An ethnography among the archives of deportation and imprisonments in Brazil

• Grant number: 25/23937-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: January 15, 2026
• End date: July 14, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Urban Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Natália Corazza Padovani
• Grantee: Pietro Ferretti Rocco
• Supervisor: Francesca Esposito
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Università di Bologna, Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/09785-2 - An ethnography among the archives of deportation and imprisonments in Brazil, BP.DD

Abstract

Under the supervision of Professor Francesca Esposito (Università di Bologna), this research aims to articulate debates on migration, confinement, and the criminalization of foreigners from a comparative perspective between Brazil and Europe. Inspired by Esposito's analyses of migration detention, gender, and humanitarianism, the internship will make it possible to examine how contemporary practices of confinement dialogue with historical Brazilian experiences of expulsion and imprisonment of foreigners (1930-1980). During the internship, fieldwork will be conducted at the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome in order to identify documents related to expulsions, deportations, and international police cooperation. The goal is to understand how the Brazilian case can shed light on the genealogies of current European migration control policies, establishing bridges between different historical and contemporary forms of governing mobility.