From Encoding to Second Encoding: Algorithms, Conviviality-Inequality, and Black Resistance

• Grant number: 25/14201-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: March 03, 2026
• End date: March 02, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science
• Principal Investigator: Rúrion Soares Melo
• Grantee: Renato Xavier dos Santos
• Supervisor: Clara Ines Ruvituso
• Host Institution: Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/17890-3 - Encoding and Decoding Algorithms: Stuart Hall and the Racial Debate in New Media, BP.PD

Abstract

This research investigates how digital platform algorithms reproduce and transform historical patterns of racial coding in Brazil, while also analyzing resistance strategies developed by Black counterpublics in the digital sphere. The project articulates Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding theory with the emerging concept of conviviality-inequality to understand continuities and ruptures between historical and digital forms of racial resistance. The research adopts a comparative qualitative approach, structured around systematic archival analysis in the collection of the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut (IAI) in Berlin, and analysis of contemporary digital practices, focusing on the period 2020-2024. The internship at IAI aims to: (a) deepen theoretical mastery of the conviviality-inequality concept through direct dialogue with MECILA researchers in Berlin, especially with the international supervisor, Dr. Clara Ruvituso, and with Sérgio Costa, articulators of the conviviality-inequality concept; (b) explore the institute's unique collection to investigate historical practices of racial coding in Brazil; and (c) establish international collaborations to expand the research's impact. Expected results include the formulation of an original theoretical framework connecting historical and digital resistances, contributing to critical studies of race, technology, and Latin America, as well as the consolidation of an international research network essential for the project's continuity.