A Political Ritual Without Closure: Serial Liminality and the Escalation of Conflict in Brazil's Street Demonstrations

Abstract

In 2013 Brazilians took to the streets in a series of demonstrations against federal and local governments that lasted until the presidential elections in October 2018. This engagement disrupted the usual political temporality of the election cycle, extending its ritual logic to years of dispute. This article asks what happens when a ‘political ritual’ does not find its closure and the liminal temporality of the ‘political season’ escalates into a left versus right polarisation. It concludes that there are two outcomes: the imagined collective self‐perception of the nation shifts and the state of exception is regarded as an exemplary way out of conflict, reiterating the authoritarian tradition.