Model for whom? Identity, race, and Asian-Brazilian Feminism in the identity constitution of Japanese-Brazilian female university students

• Grant number: 24/15888-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Urban Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Larissa Maués Pelúcio Silva
• Grantee: Lina Emy Tei Kadomoto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura, Artes, Comunicação e Design (FAAC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Asian-Brazilian feminism emerged in 2016 with the aim of creating a space for political expression for Asian women, intersecting gender with racial issues. This movement allows us to think about the experiences of cisgender women of East Asian descent and how these experiences impact the construction of their identities. Asian-Brazilian feminist activism has solidified itself mainly through digital social networks and, today, with its growing movement, the emergence of the topic and its importance in the field of research is notable. Therefore, the objective of this research is to understand how the stereotypes associated with cisgender women of Japanese descent are experienced by Japanese-Brazilian university students who self-identify as Asian, in addition to mapping and analyzing how these women understand and dialogue with Asian-Brazilian feminism. The methodology will consist of the articulation of the bibliographic survey - which aims to revisit the Japanese migration process and the stereotypes aimed at the Japanese-descendant population in Brazil - with the analysis of data collected using the Snowball technique. The research, already underway, was initiated by a group or collective from a public university in the interior of São Paulo that discusses the proposed theme and the initial sample was composed of self-declared Asian-Brazilian university students who had contact with Asian-Brazilian feminism.