God in heaven and us on earth: A study on religious street protests in São Paulo

• Grant number: 25/00334-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2025
• End date: March 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Angela Maria Alonso
• Grantee: Clarissa Lima de Paulo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The research outlined in this project aims to map religious street protests, comparing them with secular protests, to understand whether they have specificities or follow similar patterns. The scope of this research covers the period following the election of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in 2018, focusing on the geographic space of the city of São Paulo. This issue will be addressed based on the Theory of Political Confrontation, by Charles Tilly (2001; 2008), Sidney Tarrow (2001; 2022) and Doug McAdam (2001), and on the resulting methodology, the analysis of protest events (Hutter, 2014). The objective is to identify the most frequent political performances in street protests, mapping the symbols, colors and chants used by the actors. The hypothesis to be investigated through comparative analysis is that these demonstrations include more political performances of a religious nature than those mapped by other researchers in the area in previous years, which were mainly secular in nature.