Abstract
Abstract The present article analyzes the challenges Brazilian anthropology faces in the current political context, marked by setbacks, intolerance, repression, and censorship relative to previously achieved democratic advances. Here, we reflect upon different dynamics in the field of anthropology in diverse political conjunctures in Brazil over the last five decades. The first section of the article analyzes the historical context in which Brazilian anthropology became institutionalized, during the military dictatorship. We then highlight the social engagement of anthropologists in the struggle for human rights during the re-democratization of Brazil in the 1980s and anthropologists’ participation (together with the groups they study) in the gradual implementation of “identity policies”. The second section evaluates the impact of these changes in the field of anthropology and the dilemmas experienced by anthropologists in the new context of political confrontation. The concluding section analyzes and interprets the neoconservative movement and the strategies and challenges anthropology faces in contemporary Brazil.
Highlights
Este artigo se propõe analisar os desafios da antropologia brasileira diante do contexto político atual, marcado pelo retrocesso, intolerância, repressão e censura diante de avanços democráticos anteriormente conquistados
Anthropology has become especially haunted by the specter of censorship that has settled over Brazil
This is due to the fact that Brazilian anthropologists have been systematically producing important scientific knowledge regarding the new subjects of law that emerged on the national scene in the last half century
Summary
The 1988 Citizen Constitution inaugurated a democratic system in Brazil, guaranteeing individual and social rights. With the end of the military dictatorship in the 1980s, new scenarios for research and the performance of anthropologists in the public sphere became established This was the moment of the re-democratization of Brazil and most anthropologists were be mobilized in the role of public intellectuals engaged in the struggle for human rights, actively participating in discussions aimed at building a public agenda for diversity to be incorporated. In Brazil, these conceptual changes operated in the field of culturally differentiated rights and identity policies and were associated with processes of democratic construction implemented mainly during the period stretching from 2003 to 2015 This coincided with the arrival of a President of the Republic (in 2003) who belonged to a political party that had its historical roots and ideological basis in the country’s social movements.. Democratic ideals and cultural pluralism were combined into a discursive, multicultural political formula (Taylor, 1994), often used by marginalized social groups as a strategy to oppose an exclusionary and unequal model of civil society that denied the rights of those who recognized themselves culturally different (Fraser and Honneth, 2003)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
