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Projects

Current

Lynching: Transnational Political Violence

This research project seeks to conduct a micro-sociological analysis of political lethality, taking as a case study a political assassination in São Paulo's countryside in 1888. The chosen case holds particular significance due to two factors. Firstly, it represents a striking example of transnational political violence, as it unfolded in Brazil with the involvement of two ex-Confederates from the United States as leaders of the assailants. Secondly, this case study offers an opportunity to explore critical analytical dimensions within the field of political sociology: 1) transnational diffusion of styles of political violence; 2) relationship between political violence and social hierarchies; 3) assimilation of episodes of political violence to the national memory; 4) social mechanisms operating in episodes of lethal political violence and the logic of political conflicts that unfold in extreme political violence - the assassination of an opponent.

Keywords: political violence; political assassination; contentious politics

2021-2022

Documentary "Ecos de Junho"

Feature film produced in partnership with Arapy Produções and Rede Globo, focusing on the cycle of protests in Brazil in June 2013. Members: Angela Alonso (coordinator), Rafael de Souza, Hellen Guicheney, Viviane Brito de Souza, Lilian Sendretti Rodrigues Macedo, Veronica Tavares Freitas, Pedro Rebucci de Melo.

2018-2020

"A política das ruas: protestos em São Paulo de Dilma a Temer"

The project focuses on three brazilian cycles of protest, triggered by the first Dilma Rousseff term and that took place from June 2013 until her impeachment in August 2016. Members: Angela Alonso (coordinator), Rafael de Souza, Viviane Brito de Souza, Lilian Sendretti Rodrigues Macedo, Thaíla Mateus da Silva, Veronica Tavares Freitas.

2017-2020

"Junho de 2013: o começo do avesso"

This is a documentary series made up of 6 episode, each 26 minutes long, focusing on the wave of protests that began in June 2013. The documentary was made in partnership with Arapy Produções, an independent production company led by Paulo Markun, and the France-Presse agency. Members: Angela Alonso (coordinator) Rafael de Souza, Viviane Brito de Souza, Lilian Sendretti Rodrigues Macedo.

2012-2015

"O abolicionismo como movimento social"

The project investigates the abolition of slavery in Brazil from the angle of political sociology, arguing that it is the first Brazilian social movement. This complements previous research.

2009-2012

"Circulação de ideias e estratégias da ação do movimento abolicionista brasileiro"

This research aims to produce a comprehensive explanation of the Brazilian abolitionist movement from two angles. On the one hand, it argues that the phenomenon took the form of a social network, which linked activities in parliament, civil society mobilizations and slave rebellions. On the other hand, it investigates the way in which the transfer and adaptation of ideas from the international abolitionist repertoire to the Brazilian abolitionist movement took place, and how national tradition conditioned this process. It is assumed that some abolitionist leaders functioned as articulators in both processes, connecting, on the one hand, public space and political institutions and, on the other, the local, national and international arenas of abolitionist activism.

Research Groups

CEBRAP

Political Institutions and Social Movements Center (NIPOMS)

The Political Institutions and Social Movements (NIPOMS) research center brings together social scientists dedicated to the study of street politics in its interface with political and judicial institutions, social movements and political violence. Ongoing research focuses on protest events and the state responses they elicit. NIPOMS built and periodically feeds BEP-Cebrap, a bank of protest events that took place in Brazil from 2013 onwards.

CNPq

Social Mobilizations Group

This group focuses on conflictual interactions between collective actors around the sociopolitical direction of society, with attention to both contemporary conjunctures and long-term processes.  It is about investigating the interaction between sociopolitical authorities, formal institutions and processes of self-organization, and public manifestations of dissent by social groups, whether social elites or challengers, especially in the form of street mobilization. 

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