New feminist activism in Brazil: a qualitative analysis of the counterpublics underlings

• Grant number: 23/04917-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2023
• End date: May 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology
• Principal Investigator: Rúrion Soares Melo
• Grantee: Letícia Furlan Nunes
• Host Institution: Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/22387-0 - Crises of democracy: critical theory and the diagnosis of present time, AP.TEM

Abstract

The diagnoses that concern previous generations of feminism in Brazil point to a growing institutionalization of the movement, whether in state spaces and levels of government, or in Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Supposedly, such a process would have emptied the bases of the movement, distancing it from actions of affront to the State, such as demonstrations and street protests. However, from the decade of 2010, in distinction of previous generations, there is a new feminist movement, whose theme starts to occupy numerous spaces (especially on the internet) and street protests and demonstrations return with force, now about a new look marked by the case of the Slut Walk in 2011. From 2018, during the Bolsonaro government and the pandemic, the feminist camp has its structure changed once again and the landmark of this period are the #EleNão protests.The discursive changes, the actions and the guidelines themselves - sometimes propositional, sometimes defensive - seem to be linked to the space for performativity that different groups in the feminist field receive as a result of political changes, within a specific context and period. Thus, to analyze the formation of subordinate feministis also to observe how the discourse is (re)oriented to the public, through which spaces or platforms it passes to circulate and who becomes its receiver.The objective of this project is to carry out and analyze, together with other thematic members, semi-structured qualitative interviews (transcribed and analyzed through the Atlas.ti software) actors relevant to the emergence of new feminist activism in Brazil. The previous stages of bibliographic survey and development of the database on the protests will assist in the identification of the actresses who, at this stage of the research, will provide a deeper and more particular view of the selected periods. Thus, it is intended to investigate issues such as: (i) the emergence and construction of feminist counterpublics; (ii) the performances and speeches adopted; (iii) where, when, how and who was thematizing the issues before, during and after protests; (iv) the relationship of the counterpublics with the dominant audiences and, finally, (v) the hypothesis that feminist counterpublics are connected with the intensification of protests in the years 2010 and the emergence of this new activism that gave rise to a reconfiguration of the discursive and performative field of the movement.This project is linked to the thematic project "Crises of democracy: Critical Theory and diagnosis of present time" is important, because the formation of a feminist activism whose emergence occurs through the counterpublics, apparently points to the democratic crisis precisely because it does not belong to the public sphere. Its performative and discursive reformulation reveal an alternative search for political participation.