TRACING FEMINISMS IN BRAZIL:
LOCATING GENDER, RACE, AND GLOBAL POWER RELATIONS IN REVISTA
ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS PUBLICATIONS
by
Renata Rodrigues Bozzetto
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Arts
Florida Atlantic University
Boca Raton, Florida
August 2013
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to express my sincere thanks and love to my family and friends for their
support and encouragement through the writing of this manuscript. I am grateful to Andy
Lopez and Gina Guadagnino for providing valuable critiques during various phases of
this research. The support received from Donna Bryan and the Center for Women,
Gender, and Sexuality Studies is also greatly appreciated. Finally, I want to express my
most sincere appreciation to Dr. Barrios and Dr. Holman for being part of my thesis
committee, and to Dr. Njambi for being not only the best academic advisor, but also an
inspiration and a friend.
iii
ABSTRACT
Author:
Renata Rodrigues Bozzetto
Title:
Tracing Feminisms in Brazil: Locating Gender, Race, and Global
Power Relations in Revista Estudos Feministas Publications
Institution:
Florida Atlantic University
Thesis Advisor:
Dr. Wairimũ N. Njambi
Degree:
Master of Arts
Year:
2013
Women’s movements and feminisms in Brazil have taken various forms
throughout the years, contributing significantly to socio-political actions that favor
gender justice. However, Brazilian feminisms remain on the margins of American
academic discourse. In the United States, conceptualizations of feminism are often
complicated by epistemological practices that treat certain political actions as feminist
while dismissing others. The invisibility of Brazilian feminisms within feminist
scholarship in the United States, therefore, justifies the need for further research on the
topic. My research focuses on feminist articles published by Revista Estudos Feministas,
one of the oldest and most well known feminist journals in Brazil. Using postcolonial,
postmodern, and critical race feminist theories as a framework of analysis, my thesis
investigates the theories and works utilized by feminists in Brazil. I argue that Brazilian
iv
feminisms both challenge and emulate the social, economic, and geopolitical orders that
divide the world into Global North and South.
v
DEDICATION
This manuscript is dedicated to my dear daughter Filipa, to my patient, loving,
and supportive husband, John, to my fearless parents, Maria and Renato, and to my dear
Ana, Lucas, and Skye. I also dedicate this manuscript to all individuals who endorse the
Center for Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies of Florida Atlantic University and/or
offer financial support to our programs, and to all feminists who are engaging in social
justice efforts here or elsewhere.
TRACING FEMINISMS IN BRAZIL:
LOCATING GENDER, RACE, AND GLOBAL POWER RELATIONS IN REVISTA
ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS PUBLICATIONS
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... vii
INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .............................................................9
METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 16
DATA COLLECTION FOR CONTENT ANALYSIS ............................ 17
DATA COLLECTION FOR CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS ............ 19
ANALYTICAL METHODS................................................................... 24
CHAPTER 2. EXAMINING FEMINIST DISCOURSES:
A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF ACADEMIC ARTICLES PUBLISHED BY REF ......... 27
CONTENT ANALYSIS .................................................................................... 29
CHAPTER 3. TRANSNATIONAL SOLIDARITY:
A CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF FEMINISMS IN BRAZIL AND IN THE
UNITED STATES THROUGH THE INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF
FEMINISMS OF COLOR ............................................................................................. 45
CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS .................................................................... 52
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 63
APPENDIXES .............................................................................................................. 68
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 86
vi
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE 1. CONTENT ANALYSIS SAMPLE ............................................................... 18
TABLE 2. CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS SAMPLE ............................................... 22
TABLE 3. CODING SYSTEM...................................................................................... 25
vii
INTRODUCTION
This research analyzes contemporary academic conceptualizations of feminisms 1
in Brazil. Based on the feminist academic texts published in Revista Estudos Feministas
(Feminist Studies Magazine; REF), this paper critically examines feminist
conceptualizations in Brazil and analyzes the impacts of transnational feminist
mobilizations on local and global efforts for gender justice. Published by the Federal
University of Santa Catarina, REF carries various articles in English, and the ones that
are written in Portuguese have at least an English abstract. REF articles are accessible in
the United States through SciELO database or directly through REF’s Web site,2 making
it a valuable resource for the investigation of feminist discourses in the Brazilian
academy.
In Brazil, as in other Latin American countries, feminists3 were involved in
struggles for colonial independence, supported resistance movements against the military
1
The terms “feminism” and “feminisms” will be used interchangeably in order to
indicate both the singularity/context-specificity of feminism in Brazil as well as the
diverse forms of mobilization/social actors engaged in feminist efforts in the country.
2
http://www.periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/ref
3
I will use the term “feminist” when referring to scholars and activists who engage in
gender justice efforts even if these individuals or groups are not mobilized through an
articulated conceptualization of “feminism.” I am aware of the implications of adopting
such terminology, particularly in respect to local activists who refuse to be connected to a
feminist label. However, I maintain the use of “feminist” not in order to co-opt Brazilian
scholars and activists in such category, but rather to expand the understanding of what
feminist engagements may look like.
1
dictatorship, fostered the transition to democracy, and supported progressive legislation
within the current democratic government (see Jaquette 1989; Fitch 2009). Although the
intense mobilization of feminists is evident throughout Brazilian history, very little about
Brazilian feminisms is known in the United States. According to Melissa Fitch (2009),
while Brazilian feminists (and their Latin American counterparts) are intensely aware of
knowledge production outside of the country (particularly by engaging in transnational
discourses), their voices are marginalized within the United States’ academic community.
This context demonstrates the need for further investigation of feminisms in Brazil in
order to clarify at least two conditions: first, the ways in which feminists in Brazil are
contributing to the solidification of feminisms locally and globally; and second, the
power relations that shape Brazilian feminisms’ position within the United States.
Brazil and the United States are distinctively situated in terms of global power
relations. I support that this distinction is clearly informed by the positioning of Brazil
within the “Global South.” The late economic development and the long history of
international dependency have placed Brazil among the “Third World” or the
“Developing Nations,” while the United States has been securely positioned as a “First
World” or “Developed Country.” Taking into consideration and calling attention to the
socio-political and economical divide that separates the world geographically in terms of
“north” and “south,” many scholars have preferred the use of terms “Global North” and
“Global South,” to indicate global power relations (see Mohanty 2003). Although the
economic strength and the international recognition achieved by Brazil in the last decade
have been used to isolate the country from the Global South, and to place it among
2
Russia, India and China as a “BRIC,”4 I still refer to Brazil as a Global South culture for
a couple of reasons. First, despite the fact that “BRIC” countries have gained recognition
as economic players, they still do not access global decision making processes in the
same ways that Global North countries do. In addition, while Brazil has a much stronger
economy in terms of international trade, Brazilians still deal with significant structural
problems, which range from lack of affordable food and health, to violence and limited
access to education (see Sibaja, Barchfield, and Brooks 2013). More importantly, as I
will discuss in the next chapters, Brazilians are still represented as “consumers” of
hegemonic cultures produced by the Global North.
Also in terms of geopolitical location, Brazilian feminisms are simultaneously
isolated from and in contact with Latin American feminisms. Sonia Alvarez (2000)
argues that the ways “in which feminisms unfolded [in Latin America] impelled local
actors to build trans-border connections from bottom up” (30), creating a solidarity
network among feminists in the region. As a result, scholars often utilize feminist work
based on Latin America to discuss the genesis or the contemporary statuses of feminisms
in Brazil (see Soares et al. 1995; Alvarez 1998; Alvarez 2000; Sardenberg and Costa
4
The term “BRIC” was coined by Jim O'Neil, the chief economist of Goldman Sacks, as
a reference for Brazil, Russia, India and China’s political and economic growth (Koch
2011). In the last decade, the emergence of these four countries as large producers and
consumers gathered some global attention to their economies, previously deemed
“underdeveloped” and simply classified as “Third World.” According to Joanne Young
(2011), the BRICs have contributed to over one third of the global GDP’s (gross
domestic product) growth in the last few years. The term did not represent much more
than an economic “expectation” when O’Neil coined it in 2001, but the fact that Brazil,
Russia, India and China have remained stable with the global economic crisis of 2008
stabilized BRICs as a group. As the four countries have demonstrated steady growth for a
couple of years, the economic discourse has further solidified the BRICs, often referring
to them as an economic “BRIC wall” (The Economist 2011).
3
2010). At the same time, the numerous differences that often isolate Brazil within Latin
America, such as colonial history and language, 5 make it difficult to create a clear
connection between feminisms in Brazil and general scholarship or activism in the region
(Fitch 2009). In this context, I investigate works about feminism(s) that are published in
Brazil without limiting my search to “Brazilian feminisms.”
The multiplicity of feminisms in Brazil also makes it impossible to trace a single
form of activism or scholarship (Sardenberg and Costa 2010). After doing a content
analysis of articles published by REF, Luzinete Simões Minella (2004) argues that
feminist theoretical perspectives are so diverse that a first impression is that of a
“theoretical chaos” (231). In practice, feminist-centered academic programs are often
situated within postmodern feminist scholarship, with a keen focus on gender studies and
deconstruction, instead of “women’s studies” per se (Heilborn and Sorj 1999). However,
the interactions between academic and non-academic feminists in Brazil complicate the
efforts to center contemporary academic practices specifically around postmodern
feminism. Discussing the presence of Brazilian feminists in local and transnational
movements for social and gender justice, many authors assert that academic feminists
take part in mobilizations focused on “women’s issues” (see Adrião, Toneli, and Maluf
5
Brazil is the only country in Latin America mainly colonized by Portugal and,
consequently, the only one in which the primary language is Portuguese. In practice,
colonial history shapes intricate relationships between Brazilian and other Latin
American scholars. Fitch (2009) observed, for example, that while Brazilian feminist
journals publish works both in Portuguese and Spanish, journals in Mexico and Argentina
do not publish works in Portuguese. This context seems to offer more opportunities to
Spanish writers, who might be publishable in all Latin America. Brazilian writers, on the
other hand, seem to be limited to either publish in Brazilian journals or to write in
Spanish in order to be recognized by non-Brazilian Latin American journals.
4
2011; Eschle and Maiguashca 2010). This research attempts to clarify the “theoretical
chaos” by making sense of the ways in which feminist scholars in Brazil deal with the
tensions created by various interpretations of feminism.
The multiple interpretations of feminisms in Brazil are further complicated by the
specific location that feminist activists have within the women’s movements in the
country. Soares et al. (1995) argue that “the feminist movement [is] one expression of a
broader women’s movement” (310). This perspective is shared by Cecilia Sardenberg and
Ana Alice A. Costa (2010), who maintain that despite the fact that feminisms in Brazil
“have been instrumental in passage of new legislation promoting gender equality and in
the formulation of public policies for women” (255), they only represent a small fraction
of women’s movements in the country. This marginalization within Brazilian women’s
movements may be due to a general understanding of feminism as “one more imperialist
export” (Jaquette 1986:256), a stereotype that was perpetuated by the alignment of
women activists and leftist parties who were/are focused in the geopolitics of oppression.
Although I only investigate scholarly texts published by REF, the “marginal” position of
feminists within a larger movement for gender justice in Brazil is taken into account for
at least two reasons. First, it might be helpful to identify a mainstream conceptualization
of “feminism” that makes it an exclusive movement rather than inclusive. Second, it
might inform preoccupations that are specific to what is deemed “feminism” in Brazil.
5
Additionally, feminist scholarship cannot be divorced from a critical examination
of the researcher’s standpoint.6 My work is simultaneously informed by my standpoint as
a Brazilian woman living in the United States, as well as by my feminist scholarship. The
implications of this standpoint are myriad. First, I have the privilege of having
experienced different social locations in terms of race, ethnicity, and class. Second, I use
my own experience as a Brazilian woman to guide questions that emerged within my
American scholarship. Third, I hope to benefit from the ability of reading works
published in Portuguese and English without having to deal with restraints of translation.
More importantly, this standpoint allows me to occupy the “uncomfortable but
resourceful” space of an “outsider within” (Collins 2000). This social space, in which
membership in two or more groups implicate the individual as simultaneously insider and
outsider (Collins 2000), gives me a unique perspective into both Brazilian and American
feminist practices.
The first chapter of this thesis demonstrates how postcolonial, postmodern and
critical race feminist theories inform the theoretical framework of this research, as well as
the methodologies used for analysis. My study is focused on works published by REF
between January 2010, which marks the beginning of the current decade, and December
2012, which includes the most current publications available at the time that I collected
my sample. During this period, REF published three volumes, and a total of nine issues
6
According to feminist standpoint theory, the implications of one’s own experiences and
social locations are fundamental to the construction of responsible and inclusive
knowledge (see Collins 2000).
6
(one every four months). In each issue, REF included about 20 works, in both Portuguese
and Spanish, signed by either one or multiple authors.7
In chapter 2, I investigate the ways in which REF authors create an understanding
of feminism(s) through the mobilization of academic discourses. I attempt to trace
conceptualizations of feminisms in REF publications by answering five critical questions:
1) Are feminisms in Brazil conceptualized as unique and locally situated, or as an
extension of the Western feminist movement? In other words, are REF academic
discourses situated as transnational connections directly shaped by local peculiarities, or
are REF feminisms representations of local Western feminist efforts? 2) Are REF
feminists critical of gender justice efforts “imported” within a transnational context? 3) Is
REF feminist scholarship engaged in intersectional analysis? How are racial
investigations positioned within REF feminist discourses? 4) Are REF works grounded in
postmodern theories and, more importantly, are these theories used to inform
investigations that exist beyond gender justice? 5) Finally, how is gender discussed
within REF texts?
Chapter 3 is a continuation of chapter 2 in an effort to identify the
conceptualizations of feminisms in Brazil that are made visible through REF
publications. The third chapter is also more specifically focused on the interaction
between feminisms in Brazil and feminisms in the United States. Chapter 3 is designed to
highlight women of color feminisms, since they represent knowledges “from” the United
States that maintain a postcolonial, postmodern and critical race feminist perspective. On
7
A complete summary of the nine issues that I analyze in this thesis is available in the
appendixes.
7
the one hand, chapter 3 will bridge conceptualizations of feminisms from both the United
States and Brazil. On the other hand, chapter 3 will problematize power relations within
feminist interactions that are simultaneously shaped by the merging of gender and race
and contemporary global politics.
8
CHAPTER 1
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
According to Chandra Tapalde Mohanty (1991), “[any] discussion of the
intellectual and political construction of ‘Third World feminisms’ must address itself to
two simultaneous projects: the internal critique of hegemonic ‘Western’ feminisms, and
the formulation of autonomous, geographically, historically, and culturally grounded
feminist concerns and strategies” (51). This approach calls for a critical examination of
the “universal” conceptualizations of women and feminisms. Mohanty’s perspective
(1991) helps to set the tone for this research, as I categorize Brazilian feminisms as what
she calls “Third World feminisms.”8 Looking at the relationships between Global South
feminisms and “Western”9 feminist discourses and practices is fundamental to a critical
understanding of such feminisms’ impact locally and globally (see Oyěwùmí’s 2005;
Mohanty 1991).
Although Mohanty (1991) focuses on Western representations of Third World
(Global South) women, her work informs structural conditions in which Global South
8
I refer to “Third World feminisms” as “global south feminisms,” a term that was also
adopted by Mohanty (2003) in “Under Western eyes revisited: Feminist solidarity
through anticapitalist struggles.”
9
Western here is used as a reference to knowledges produced by individuals or
institutions from the global west, which are often treated as scientifically superior.
9
women are seen as helpless, and their scholarship is marginalized. Mohanty (1991)
problematized this hierarchy and asserted that it is constructed and maintained by
Western feminisms. In her essay “Under Western eyes revisited: Feminist solidarity
through anticapitalist struggles,” Mohanty (2003) argues that her intention with her
earlier work was not to place Global North and Global South feminists in opposition, but
rather to further develop a critique to Eurocentric narratives that are often reinforced
within feminisms. This observation is also applicable to my work: the critique to
Western-centered narratives is not meant to erase possibilities of transnational alliances.
This critique, instead, aims to demonstrate that differences do not need to be wiped out,
masked, or ignored in order to allow for global solidarity.
While Brazilian feminists are constructing academic frameworks of action, they
closely interact with Western feminist scholarship. Although this interaction might seem
liberating, it cannot be divorced from the social, political, and economic contexts that
segregate Global North and South. The feminist strategies that unify efforts under
transnational mobilizations are, therefore, intrinsically contradictory (Alvarez 2000). On
the one hand, the conceptualization of “universal” rights or needs of women might favor
international alliances. On the other hand, the concept of “universal” rights inherently
brings hierarchical frameworks that define international relationships. This contradiction
justifies the need for a critical investigation and an understanding of feminisms in Brazil
through the lenses of postcolonial, postmodern, and critical race feminist scholarship.
Postcolonial feminist scholarship is relevant because it problematizes the
structural forms of dominance that reinforce colonial practices. Sara Mills (1998) argues
10
that the main concern of postcolonial theory is “the present-day legacy of imperialism”
and, despite the fact that post-colonial feminists are “not a unified group […] they reacted
against the lack of address to gender issues in mainstream post-colonial theory and also
against the universalizing tendencies within Western feminist thought” (98). By assessing
the ways through which Western feminisms implicitly or explicitly assume homogeneous
forms of gender oppression, postcolonial feminists demonstrate that transnational
feminisms often silence or marginalize Global South women. Furthermore, as
demonstrated through the work of Oyèrónké Oyěwùmí (2005), postcolonial feminists
question the conceptualization of Western thought as “neutral” and universal.
The benefits of adopting postcolonial feminist theories as a framework of analysis
are many. Challenging the Western universalized notion of “women’s experience” allows
for a space to analyze what experience is privileged and what is marginalized within
Brazilian feminisms. In terms of activism, postcolonial feminist perspectives demonstrate
that feminisms are expressed through a variety of mobilizations and that women’s
struggles are not shaped by a single concern based on Western conceptualizations of
gender. Through a feminist postcolonial scholarship, for example, the efforts that use
“strategic gender interests”10 as “the standard” measurement of “feminisms” can be
called into question. I use postcolonial feminist theory in order to question the ways
10
“Strategic gender interests,” according to Molyneux (1985) characterize movements
that articulate political actions that not only address the present status of women, but also
have the objective of “overcoming women’s subordination.” Strategic gender interests
are distinct from “practical gender interests,” as the latter are “usually a response to an
immediate perceived need, and they do not generally entail a strategic goal” (Molyneux
1985:233). Western feminisms have been problematized for only recognizing strategic
gender interests as forms of feminist action.
11
through which the various methodological choices that are used to frame feminist
discourses in REF might be used to silence or give voice to particular forms of feminisms
in (or from) Brazil.
Postcolonial feminist theory also supports the examination of contradictory spaces
that Brazilian feminist scholars occupy within American scholarship. In “African
Feminist Scholars in Women’s Studies: Negotiating Spaces of Dislocations and
Transformation in the Study of Women,” Josephine Beoku-Betts and Wairimũ Ngarũiya
Njambi (2005) analyze their experience as immigrant scholars in the United States and
problematize the responses to their presence as professors within American classrooms.
Although their experience is situated within the power relations between women of color
and academia in the United States, their analysis also points to a hierarchical condition in
which Global South scholars are (dis)placed within Western scholarship. Taking BeokuBetts and Njambi’s work (2005) as an example, I specifically investigate the theoretical
exchanges that according to Fitch (2009) seem to place Brazilian feminists as consumers
of theory in the United States rather than makers of knowledge.
Many parallels can be traced between postcolonial and postmodern 11 scholarships,
although both theoretical perspectives have particular contributions to the analytical
processes that I utilize in this thesis. These scholarships intersect in their critique of the
Western narrative’s universality and its “central” position in defining knowledge. Both
11
As demonstrated by Butler and Scott (1992), postmodernism is often interchangeably
regarded as poststructuralism. They argue that “post-structuralism indicates a field of
critical practices that cannot be totalized and that, therefore, interrogate the formative and
exclusionary power of dis-course in the construction of sexual difference […] [It] is not,
strictly speaking, a position, but rather a critical interrogation of the exclusionary
operations by which ‘positions’ are established” (Butler and Scott 1992: xiii-xiv).
12
postcolonial theory and postmodern theory are critical of stabilized identities. According
to Patricia Waugh (1998), postmodernism repudiates “foundationalism (the idea that
knowledge can be grounded in a secure a priori principles)” (178). Therefore,
postmodern theorists are concerned about emphasizing differences, multiplicities,
fragmentation and relativity. In this thesis, I use postmodern conceptualizations because
they emphasize that a monolithic identity is not necessary for understanding women’s
experiences and feminist practices across borders. A postmodern approach is beneficial to
an understanding of feminisms in Brazil and elsewhere, because it highlights the
peculiarities that make such feminisms unique. In fact, postmodern commitment to the
deconstruction of stabilized identities is beneficial to this research because it makes the
very definition of “women” an unstable term. I employ a postmodern feminist framework
because it opens space for multiple forms of feminisms and women’s situatedeness. 12
The third theoretical framework that I utilize is informed by critical race feminist
scholarship. Taking into consideration the enduring myth of a racial democracy 13 in
Brazil (see Ramos 2007; Twine 1998), it is fundamental to analyze feminisms not only
from an intersectional approach, but also through the understanding that white privilege
remains invisible in everyday life in Brazil. It is also important to note that Brazil has
more Black people than any other country, except Nigeria (Chang 2007). Critical race
12
According to Donna Haraway (1999; 2003) “situated knowledges” means that all
knowledges are always and already partially constructed.
13
The term “racial democracy,” first elaborated by Gilberto Freyre (1933), is used to
inform the democratic state that emerges from a prosperous mixed-race culture. “Racial
democracy” became the main ideology supporting the belief that racism does not exist in
Brazil. Calling attention to the fact that this ideology hides the actual racial segregation in
the country, Brazilian scholars and activists refer to it as the “myth of racial democracy”
(Ramos 2007).
13
theorists problematize the ways through which racial biological categories are created
and enforced as markers of difference (see Delgado and Stefancic 2000; Fraser 1995;
Harding 1993). Critical race feminist scholars problematize both gender and race through
the understanding that these categories are socially constructed and simultaneously used
to create unbalanced power relations. More specifically, critical race feminists call for a
meticulous investigation of “invisible” privileges that exist within “whiteness.”
Peggy McIntosh (2002), tracing parallels between gender and race, demonstrate
how racial privilege is accessed by white individuals. Describing her own experience as a
white woman in the United States, McIntosh (2002) argues that “[as] a white person, I
realized I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage,
but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me
at an advantage” (123). McIntosh’s work (2002) exposes what she calls an “invisible
knapsack” in which privileges are granted and carried not as a result of merit, but race. A
critical race investigation, that not only questions the construction of non-whites (see
Harding 1993; Fraser 1995) but also the consequences of white privilege (see McIntosh
2002; Wise 2008) is useful in this research because it helps to reveal what kinds of
feminist visions are privileged and which are marginalized within Brazilian feminisms in
terms of race.
Another way in which critical race feminist theory informs my theoretical
framework is by tracing cross-cultural uses of “non-white” feminist knowledges. Elora
Halim Chowdhury (2009) suggests that the inclusion of anti-racist work of American
feminists of color in transnational feminism can minimize the imperial effects that U.S.
14
hegemonic feminisms can have outside of its borders. According to Chowdhury (2009),
we need to fully examine the “ways in which [global] feminisms are deployed to further
disparate political agendas that can be quite contradictory to feminist principles of
equality, self-reflexivity, and reciprocity” (52). Knowing that Brazilian feminists are
utilizing theories developed by Global North scholars (further explained in the following
chapters), this thesis identifies the connections between Brazilian and American scholars
through the lens of critical race feminisms. Within the umbrella of critical race theory, I
also refer to the works of women of color in the United States as strategies through which
feminists in Brazil may challenge local experiences of white privilege. Within this critical
race feminist framework, the problematization of the identity politics by bell hooks
(1984) in Feminist theory: From margin to center, and by Patricia Hill Collins (2000) in
Black feminist thought, are examples of the ways through which women of color’s
critical perspectives have contributed to academia and feminist practices.
The term “women of color” does not represent an identity; it represents any
identities that exist in opposition to a universal “woman” that is framed by whiteness (see
Anzaldúa and Moraga 1983). In addition, “women of color” is also connected to the
conceptualizations of “mestizaje,” in which individuals are interpreted as hybrid
identities, which are often contradictory and transformed through the memberships in
groups. The figure of la mestiza14 is represented by various authors in Gloria Anzaldúa’s
(1990) Making face, making soul: Haciendo caras: Creative and critical perspectives by
14
La Mestiza, according to Anzaldúa (1990), is the embodied consciousness of multiple
identities, a cultural collision formed by “the coming together of two self-consistent but
habitually incompatible frames of reference” in which ambiguity is possible (378).
15
feminists of color, as well as in the anthology, This bridge called my back: Writings by
radical women of color, co-edited by Anzaldúa and Cherríe Moraga (1983). These
groundbreaking works reinforce the postcolonial, postmodern, and critical race studies
efforts that challenge what counts as “woman” and even “feminist theory.” By
challenging Western traditional structures of academic writing, 15 the authors that
contributed to these anthologies truly transformed Western feminisms (Anzaldúa and
Keating 2002). Furthermore, these works demonstrate that without challenging racial
privileges, gender-based feminist efforts are insufficient for creating gender justice.
Postcolonial, postmodern, and critical race feminist theories merge in these anthologies
as authors remain critical of identity politics, feminisms, race, ethnicity, class, gender,
and sexuality. More importantly, these authors demonstrate that politics of alliances are
possible despite the destabilization of identity categories that are often seen as
fundamental to feminisms (see also Barrett and Phillips 1992).
Methodology
Since my research focuses on contemporary discourses, I chose to only
investigate articles published in 2010, 2011 and 2012. In addition, I eliminated articles
that were written in Spanish or non-Brazilian Portuguese. Articles written in Brazilian
Portuguese are accessible to the widest audience of REF and they are produced by
scholars who have a close relationship with Brazilian scholarship. Only articles that were
15
These anthologies challenge the traditional forms of academic writing by proposing the
conceptualization of feminist knowledges through poetry, images, and various works by
“non-academic” feminists.
16
written by scholars affiliated with a Brazilian institution at the time of publication are
included in this sample. 16 However, the selected articles might have been written by
Brazilian scholars who have experienced research within foreign academic institutions.
Each volume of REF is structured around six distinct sections: editorial (editorial)
is used to express the editor’s opinion about the themes discussed in each volume; artigos
(articles) focuses on women, gender and sexuality studies research and is presented as a
diverse section; ponto de vista (viewpoint) has interviews; dossiê (dossier) has articles
about a specific theme, and sometimes is called artigos temáticos (thematic
articles/sections); ensaios (essays) discusses specific themes based on literature review;
resenha (review) includes reviews of recently published books (Diniz and Foltran 2004).
Together, the two samples discussed below include at least one work from each section.
Data Collection for Content Analysis
The first sample was selected through the use of the keyword feminismo
(feminism) in the search engine of REF. This sample, presented below in Table 1,
includes both the Portuguese and English titles for each work. With exception of the
works by Cubas (2012) and Diniz (2011) that had their titles translated by me, the
English titles for all other works were available in the PDF documents downloaded from
REF’s website.
16
Only authors affiliated with a Brazilian institution were included in this reserach with
the objective of increasing the probability of having a sample that reflected “local”
conceptualizations of feminisms. All articles published by REF included the institutional
affiliation of the authors below their names, with the exception of the book review
written by Cubas (2012), whose Brazilian affiliation was proved through an external
research.
17
TABLE 1 – CONTENT ANALYSIS SAMPLE
AUTHOR
TITLE
Mara Coelho de
Souza Lago
Feminismo,
psicanalise,
gênero : Viagens
e traduções
Intelectuais &
militantes e as
possibilidades de
diálogo
Ativismo
artístico:
Engajamento
político e
questões de
gênero na obra de
Barbara Kruger
Estereótipos de
gênero nas cortes
internacionais um desafio a
igualdade:
Entrevista com
Rebecca Cook
Maria Ignez S.
Paulilo
Lina Alves
Arruda, and
Maria de Fatima
Morethy Couto
Debora Diniz
Karla Galvão
Adrião, Maria
Juracy
Filgueiras
Toneli, and
Sonia Weidner
Maluf
Angelita Alice
Jaeger, and
Silvana Vilodre
Goellner
O movimento
feminista
Brasileiro na
virada do século
XX: Reflexões
sobre sujeitos
políticos na
interface com as
noções de
democracia e
autonomia
O músculo
estraga a mulher?
A produção de
feminilidades no
fisioculturismo
ENGLISH
TRANSLATION
Feminism,
psychoanalysis,
gender: Travels
and translations
Intellectuals and
militants:
possibilities of
dialogue
Artistic activism:
Political
awareness and
gender issues in
Barbara Kruger's
work
DATE OF
PUBLICATION
2010
Gender
stereotypes in
international
courts – a
challenge to
equality:
Interview with
Rebecca Cook
The Brazilian
feminist
movement at the
turn of the 20th
Century:
Reflections on
political subjects
in the interface
with the concepts
of democracy and
autonomy
Does the muscle
damage a
woman? The
production of
femininities in
bodybuilding.
18
TYPE
Thematic
Articles
2010
Dossier
2011
Articles
2011
Viewpoint
2011
Articles
2011
Thematic
Section
Jussara Reis
Prá, and Lea
Epping
Marines Ribeiro
dos Santos,
Joana Maria
Pedro, and
Carmen Rial
Mariana Santos
Damasco,
Marcos Chor
Maio, and
Simone
Monteiro
Caroline Jaques
Cubas
Cidadania e
feminismo no
reconhecimento
dos direitos
humanos das
mulheres
Novas práticas
corporais no
espaco
doméstico: A
domesticidade
pop na revista
Casa & Jardim
durante os anos
1970
Feminismo
negro: Raça,
identidade e
saúde reprodutiva
no Brasil (19751993)
Do feminismo
aos seus plurais...
Citizenship and
feminism in
recognition of the
women’s human
rights
2012
Articles
New corporal
practices within
dweling spaces:
Pop domesticity
in Casa & Jardim
magazine during
the 1960-70s
2012
Articles
Black feminism:
Race, identity,
and reproductive
health in Brazil
(1975-1993)
2012
Articles
From feminism to
its plurals
2012
Review
Data collection for cross-cultural analysis
The second group of articles, used for the cross-cultural analysis of Chapter 3,
was gathered through the use of specific words in REF’s search engine:
“interseccionalidade” (intersectionality), “ponto de vista” (standpoint), “raça” (race), and
“negras” (Black women). All four indicators were searched both in Portuguese and in
English because some concepts, such as “standpoint,” are used by Brazilian scholars
without a translation. These indicators were selected as umbrella terms that represent
some of the most significant contributions of women of color to feminist theories in the
United States. Although these terms do not cover all the possible ways through which
Brazilian scholars may be using scholarship developed by women of color from the
19
United States, they are certainly broad enough to delineate a diverse sample for this
analysis.
The first indicator, “intersectionality,” emerges from the understanding that
gender and race are not mutually exclusive (see Crenshaw 2002; Lorde 1983; Smith,
Hull, and Scott 1982). Although intersectionality in women of color feminisms in the
United States was first defined in terms of race and gender, it is certainly not limited to an
analysis of these two categories. Feminist scholars often use intersectionality to
problematize power relations existent in, but not limited to, sexuality, class, and even
bodily ability. Taking into account the pervasive ways in which racial power relations
operate in Brazil, I particularly focus on the intersections of gender and race.
Nevertheless, other discourses that are constructed within an intersectional framework,
such as gender and class or disability, are considered in this analysis. The search for
intersectionality resulted in one article (published in 2002), and the search for
interseccionalidade resulted in four articles, (published in 2002, 2005 and 2011). These
works were not included in the sample because they were either published before 2010 or
were published in Spanish.
The second indicator, “standpoint,” assures the inclusion of voices that would be
otherwise ignored (Collins 1999). Two considerations are fundamental to the
development of works under a standpoint framework: first, women’s voices cannot be
divorced from an intersectional context in which their own stories are shaped by complex
lived experiences; second, within standpoint theory the voices of marginalized women
are fundamental to the creation of responsible knowledge. As a result, a standpoint
20
framework not only incorporates the personal narratives of women who have been
silenced, but it also suggests that their knowledge production can only be achieved from
the margins. I argue that these developments in American feminist theories are intimately
connected to the struggles that women of color had as they challenged the essentialized
views related to second wave feminism (see Roth 2004). The search for standpoint
resulted in 12 articles, only two of them were published in the time frame selected for this
research, and only one of which was considered for this research. “Heleieth Saffioti, a
pioneer of feminist studies in Brazil,” by Luzinete Simões Minella (2011) was not
included in the sample because it represents the transcription of an interview conducted
in 2004. Taking into account that the discussions between Heleieth Saffioti and the
interviewers took place several years before the time frame selected for this research, I
chose not to include this piece as data.
Finally, the words “race” and “negras” were chosen according to the non-white
sociolocation that women of color are often identified with. Taking into account that the
term “women of color” only makes sense in the American context and that it may not be
employed in the same ways in Brazil, I chose to use the term negras as it represents a
Brazilian identity that is simultaneously non-male and non-white. As argued by Sueli
Carneiro (see Ramos 2007), racial identifications in Brazil have been constructed with
the purpose of “concealing” blackness. This condition is particularly distinct from the
experiences of people of color in the United States where, according to Sollors (2000), a
portion of non-white blood was used to “define” blackness. As a result, feminist
discourses developed around negra identities are claiming both a non-white race and a
21
non-male gender in very explicit ways. Seven articles were gathered through the search
for race and negras.
As previously noted, the search for “intersectionality” and “standpoint” allowed
for the identification of a couple of articles but the vast majority was published before
2010. Table 2 below represents the final sample used for the cross-cultural analysis. Only
one article, “Black feminism: Race, identity, and reproductive health in Brazil (19751993)” belongs to both the content analysis and the cross-cultural analysis samples.
TABLE 2 – CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS SAMPLE
AUTHOR
TITLE
Rosana de
Carvalho
Martinelli
Freitas
A construção de
uma agenda para
as questões de
gênero, desastres
socioambientais e
desenvolvimento
Jonatas
Ferreira,
Cynthia
Hamlin
Mulheres, negros
e outros
monstros: Um
ensaio sobre
corpos não
civilizados
Um bocado de
sexo, pouco giz,
quase nada de
apagador e
muitas provas:
Cenas escolares
envolvendo
questões de
gênero e
sexualidade
Fernando
Seffner
17
ENGLISH
TRANSLATION
The construction
of an agenda
concerning
gender, socioenvironmental
disasters,
and development
Women, negroes,
and other
monsters: An
essay on noncivilized bodies
DATE OF
PUBLICATION
2010
TYPE/
KEYWORD(S)17
Dossier/
Race; raça
2010
Essays/
raça
A lot of sex, a
little chalk,
almost no eraser
and many tests:
School scenes
involving
gender and
sexuality
2011
Dossier/
Race; raça
Some keywords are listed in English and Portuguese because the corresponding articles
were found through the search for both terms.
22
Cláudia Maria
de Farias
Teresa Sacchet
Santos
Damasco,
Mariana,
Marcos Chor
Maio, and
Simone
Monteiro
Anahi Guedes
de Mello,
Adriano
Henrique
Nuernberg
Maria Cristina
Aranha
Bruschini,
Arlene
Martinez
Ricoldi
Superando
barreiras e
preconceitos:
Trajetórias,
narrativas e
memórias de
atletas Negras
Representação
política,
representação de
grupos e
política de cotas:
Perspectivas e
contendas
feministas
Feminismo
negro: Raça,
identidade e
saúde reprodutiva
no Brasil (19751993)
Overcoming
barriers and
prejudices: Black
women athletes´
trajectories,
narratives and
memories
Political
representation,
group
representation and
racial quotas
policy: Feminist
views and debates
2011
Thematic
Section/
Race; raça;
Negras
2012
Articles/
Standpoint
Black feminism:
Race, identity,
and reproductive
health in Brazil
(1975-1993)
2012
Articles/
Race; raça
Gênero e
deficiência:
Interseções e
perspectivas
Gender and
disability:
Intersections and
perspectives
2012
Articles/
Raça
Revendo
estereótipos: O
papel dos homens
no trabalho
doméstico
Revisiting
stereotypes: The
male role in
household tasks
2012
Articles/
Raça
The crucial task with such works is to make visible the connections that they
might have with work produced in the United States. The question for this cross-cultural
analysis is not whether or not Brazilian feminists utilize Western feminist theories; rather,
the question is what types of feminist theories from the United States might Brazilian
feminists be utilizing? I use direct mentions of works published by American women of
color in the bibliographical references of the Brazilian samples, in addition to direct or
23
indirect quotes noted within these texts, as ways to identify the employment of theories
developed by American women of color. I hope to find in-text references, as well as
bibliographical material, that support the existence of diverse transnational feminist
exchanges.
Analytical Methods
This is a qualitative research thesis, grounded on feminist content analysis and
feminist cross-cultural research. According to Shulamt Reinharz (1992), the diverse
scholarship that shapes feminisms also informs an endless list of feminist methodologies,
which complicates any effort to define a singular “feminist method.” However, the
particular concerns of feminists in terms of gender justice and accountability demonstrate
that certain practices are crucial to the development of feminist research (Reinharz 1992).
I hope that the selected feminist methodologies will favor not only a better understanding
of feminisms in Brazil, but will also create parameters for the examination of theoretical
frameworks that are adopted cross-culturally.
Reinharz (1992) argues that “people who do content analyses study a set of
objects (i.e., cultural artifacts) or events systematically by counting them or interpreting
the themes contained in them” (146). In this research, the objects of analysis are written
records, initially catalogued through the basic coding system demonstrated in Table 3:
24
TABLE 3 – CODING SYSTEM
CONTENT ANALYSIS
Feminism(s) is described as a general subject or as a
Feminism as an extension from “Western universal effort; women’s struggles and needs are
Feminisms”
deemed universal; attention to human rights
discourses and/or Western history.
Feminism(s) is deemed context-specific, or
originated from local struggles and consequent
Organic forms of feminism(s)
efforts towards gender justice; may intersect with
Western feminisms, but has at least a “distinctive”
characteristic.
Author demonstrates a postcolonial awareness, or
describes feminist efforts in terms of
Postcolonial feminism
antiglobalization struggles, or is critical about Global
power relations.
Author demonstrates a postmodern awareness or is
Postmodern Feminism
critical about universalizing identity categories and
practices.
Author demonstrates a critical race awareness or is
committed to discussing gender in conjunction with
Critical race feminism
race; white privilege is questioned; racial politics are
analyzed as power relations that affect gender justice.
CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS
The author demonstrates the influence of women of
color feminisms by: direct or indirect citation,
Reference to “Women of Color” from the
bibliographical references, and/or acknowledgment
United States
of their contributions to feminist theory in the United
States.
Author is committed to fully interrogating racism
and/or white privilege (including existent practices
Critical Race
within feminisms), and connects this interrogation to
women of color feminisms from the United States.
Gender is not discussed as an isolated category;
Intersectionality
discussion of gender is grounded in knowledge
advanced by women of color scholarship.
Article makes evident the voices of marginalized
communities and women of color and/or the author
Standpoint
demonstrates an awareness of his/her implication
within academic scholarship, feminisms, or the
analyzed topic.
Although the occurrence of themes and the use of particular frameworks were
counted through a quantitative methodology, I am more concerned about their qualitative
25
impact and the meanings that repeated concepts create.18 One of the reasons I chose a
feminist content analysis is the understanding that “cultural documents also shape [social
and institutional] norms” (Reinharz 1992:151). In other words, cultural texts (such as
scholarly articles) inform power relations not only within Brazilian culture, but also
within feminisms locally and globally. Another important aspect of feminist content
analysis, according to Reinharz (1992), is the fact that it centers not only on visible
patterns, but also on “missing texts.” Therefore, it is my hope that this methodological
approach will help to make evident not only the frameworks that construct feminisms in
Brazil through REF publications but also conceptualizations that might seem invisible
within these feminisms.
According to Reinharz (1992), feminist cross-cultural research serves the purpose
of identifying commonalities or shared ideals. In my research, this method is used to
bridge feminist scholarship from Brazil and from the United States. Reinharz (1992) also
argues that feminist cross-cultural methods allow the challenging of ethnocentric or racist
practices, which resulted from the colonial legacy in anthropology. Therefore, I hope that
this methodology enables the identification of ways in which, according to Fitch (2009),
Brazilian feminists have been marginalized within feminisms in the United States.
18
For example, when discussing the uses of theories developed by women of color from
the United States in Brazil, I will certainly count how often these theories are clearly
represented within Brazilian feminist scholarship. However, the statistical data will be
used as means of understanding intricate relationships that can only be informed through
a qualitative methodology.
26
CHAPTER 2
EXAMINING FEMINIST DISCOURSES:
A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF ACADEMIC ARTICLES PUBLISHED BY REF
An array of academic discourses can be used to conceptualize feminisms in
Brazil, and REF is one of the more significant vehicles through which these discourses
are constructed, shared, and re-constructed by academic feminists. Funded by agencies
directly connected to Brazilian national government, REF has more freedom to promote
local-based research than publications that are subsidized by international agencies or
non-Brazilian foundations. REF reaches out to about 10,000 online readers per month,
and each reader visits an average of three online pages of the journal per login. 19 Called
the “older sibling” of other prominent Brazilian journals (Fitch 2009), 20 REF is deemed a
reference of feminist scholarship in both Brazil and Latin America. From that
perspective, the feminist discourses that exist within REF publications are a fair
representation of how feminist scholars are conceptualizing feminisms in Brazil. In order
to locate such conceptualizations, this chapter focuses on the ways that feminism, as well
as gender issues are discussed through REF publications.
19
REF statistics collected for May 2013, available at
http://stat.estudosfeministas.periodicos.ufsc.br/awstats/awstats.pl
20
Fitch (2009) argues that REF is the “older sibling” of Cadernos Pagu, a journal
published by the Center for Gender Studies of UNICAMP (Campinas State University),
which can be accessed through http://www.pagu.unicamp.br/
27
Fitch’s analysis (2009) of Latin American feminist journals demonstrates that
gender alone might not represent the focus of Brazilian feminists. According to Fitch:
Identity is an enticingly intricate issue. It seems that one overriding commonality
in each of the journals discussed is this sense of moving away from strictly
discussing feminism or feminist criticism based on biology to acknowledge and
incorporate a compendium of hegemonies that serve to circumscribe identity
formation for everyone, the multiple intersections of power abuse that cross with
class, age, race, sexual orientation which sometimes make it difficult to talk in
terms of a unified category of “women” or “men” at all. (2009:101)
In other words, the ways “feminist issues” are approached within Cadernos Pagu, the
Brazilian feminist journal examined by Fitch (2009), demonstrate that feminist scholars
in Brazil sustain postmodern critiques to identity and are supportive of intersectional
frameworks of analysis.
Feminists in Brazil have a diverse activist agenda, in which gender is used as a
central struggle, but not necessarily an isolated one. Catherine Eschle and Bice
Maiguashca (2010) argue that the “vibrant presence” of “feminist antiglobalization
activists” in the social justice movement counts with an intense participation of Brazilian
women. The diversity of issues, from reproductive rights to antiglobalization efforts,
demonstrates that feminist concerns outside academia are informed by the examination of
various levels of oppression.
As previously discussed, postmodern feminism is deemed the most common
theoretical approach adopted by feminist scholars in Brazil. While postmodern theories
are fertile ground for challenging gender inequality, the applicability of postmodernism to
feminist goals is determined by its ability to also challenge other socially constructed
categories (such as heterosexuality, whiteness, or body ability). If postmodernism is not
28
used in REF to address feminist concerns beyond gender, what other theoretical
frameworks are REF feminists using?
Content Analysis
In “New Corporal Practices within Dwelling Spaces: Pop Domesticity in Casa &
Jardim Magazine during the 1960-70s,” Marines Ribeiro dos Santos, Joana Maria Pedro,
and Carmen Rial (2012) analyze how the changes in the layout as well as in the
portrayals of domestic places in 1970s Brazil reflect changes in bodily practices. Arguing
that the use of “pop language” 21 and the representation of “youth culture”22 in Casa &
Jardim Magazine simultaneously informed and were informed by a cultural
transformation of gender roles, Santos, Pedro, and Rial (2012) discuss how the new
portrayals of domestic space represented interpretations of feminist discourses and
practices in 1970s Brazil. They contend that “feminist achievements and demands
informed the investments on behavioral transgressions” experienced during the 1960s and
70s, which allowed for new representations of female spaces, such as the household
(Santos, Pedro, and Rial 2012:237).
When discussing feminism, Santos, Pedro, and Rial (2012) define the movement
as an extension of a global effort that was somewhat rooted in the United States and
Europe. The authors support the belief that feminism was at least “enhanced” by the
21
According to Santos et Al. (2012), the pop language was characterized by informality,
humor, and personal expression.
22
Santos et Al. (2012) use the term youth culture when referring to the behavioral
revolution that challenged institutions, hierarchies and inequalities, and were particularly
marked by the student, hippie, and black movements.
29
experiences that Brazilian women brought back when returning from exile (Santos,
Pedro, and Rial 2012). In this context, Santos, Pedro, and Rial (2012) argue that women’s
experiences within feminist consciousness raising groups abroad were fundamental to the
establishment of a feminist movement in Brazil, making feminisms in Brazil dependent
on Western feminisms.
The idea that local feminisms are an extension of Western feminisms is also
represented through the implied positioning of Brazil within países ocidentais (Western
countries). Discussing body politics in the 1960s and 70s, the authors support the idea
that a preoccupation with abortion and sexual violence was shared by “países ocidentais”
(Santos, Pedro, and Rial 2012:252), indicating that they consider Brazil to be either part
of or influenced by Western culture. Further exemplifying “youth culture” and feminist
actions, Santos, Pedro, and Rial (2012) describe manifestations from the United States.
Whether or not the “youth culture” was experienced in the same ways in the United
States and Brazil remains invisible, but a similarity is implied. This conceptualization of
a universal youth culture seems to dismiss the fact that, during the 1960s and 70s,
Brazilian youth were particularly concerned about the challenges posed by the
authoritarian government, an experience that was not shared by American youth. Taking
into account Jaquette’s analysis (1989) of Latin American feminisms, and the argument
that local feminisms were devoted to development of democratic states, general claims
about youth culture appear to be reductive in this sense. At some point, Santos, Pedro,
and Rial (2012) suggest that feminist engagements in Brazil preceded the 1970s, and
even give some examples of Brazilian feminist authors who achieved relative success in
30
the 1960s. Nevertheless, they avoid any claims that would sustain the conceptualization
of an organic movement. Brazil is deemed part of Western culture, and feminism is
conceptualized as a Western movement, grounded on universally shared ideals (Santos,
Pedro, and Rial 2012).
The cultural changes experienced in Brazil between the 1960s and 70s are
certainly attractive to scholars, as some articles specifically focus on discussing feminist
histories that emerged within this period. Lina Alves Arruda and Maria de Fatima
Morethy Couto (2011) are also invested in examining the 1970s feminist culture through
the analysis of the work created by American artist Barbara Kruger. Arruda and Couto
(2011) describe the strategies that merged gender, art and politics in Barbara Kruger’s
work as representations of “early” feminist engagements that shaped contemporary
feminisms. According to Arruda and Couto (2011), Kruger works by appropriating and
transforming pop culture images, usually extracted from advertisements, to which she
adds texts of “direct and simple language” 23 in order to create powerful sexual,
reproductive, gendered, capitalist, and aesthetic criticism (389). Arruda and Couto (2011)
assert that the artist utilizes publicly accessible media to transform social conditions that
are created or enhanced by patriarchy.
Situating Kruger’s art within a vanguard period, Arruda and Couto (2011) argue
that their article introduces and contextualizes “early feminist artworks which emerged in
the late 1960’s up to the 1980’s” (402). Further discussing the mobilization of feminist
themes by other artists, Arruda and Couto (2011) use the expression “first feminist
23
Texts used by Barbara Kruger include, for example: “sex/lure;” “be;” “love for sale.”
http://www.barbarakruger.com/art.shtml
31
artworks,” (393) to address the artworks produced around 1970s. Such claims imply that
Barbara Kruger was a “trailblazer” feminist artist, but what are the understandings and
conceptualizations of feminisms that emerge from this belief? In addition, what are the
conclusions that can be traced if the authors are discussing the feminist engagements of
Barbara Kruger but do not address the impact that her art had or has in Brazil?
The lack of a discussion about the geopolitical location of Barbara Kruger’s
influence implies that the feminist discourses that shaped and were shaped by her art
were not only present in the United States and Brazil, but also everywhere. As within the
work of Santos, Pedro, and Rial (2012), feminism is conceptualized by Arruda and Couto
(2011) as an extension of Western feminisms, demonstrating that some Brazilian scholars
are not hesitant to self-place Brazil within the Global North. Furthermore, while the focus
in the 1960s and 70s feminist culture might have favored the conceptualization of a
hegemonic, transnational, and second wave (Western) feminism, it also seems dismissive
of other feminist actions that may have existed before these decades in Brazil. For
example, where would we place the artistic expressions that anticipated the “feminist
themes” that were only elaborated by Barbara Kruger at the end of 1970s? Would they be
labeled feminist? If Barbara Kruger is considered an “early feminist artist,” either
feminism or feminist art is conceptualized as a product of 1960s. In addition, early
feminist art is located in the United States. While my goal is not to question the feminist
content of Barbara Kruger’s work, I am questioning the implications of centering
feminisms on expressions that only emerged on or after 1960s and in the United States,
32
because it simultaneously silences feminisms that pre-existed the 1960s and/or emerged
outside the United States.
The influences of Western feminisms, and chiefly the influences of American
theories and praxis, are evident in more articles. Caroline Jaques Cubas (2012), for
example, wrote a book review for História oral, feminismo e política (Oral history,
feminism and politics) by Daphne Patai. Western influence is evident in the
conceptualization of feminisms as Cubas (2012) argues that feminist struggles marked
the “revolts” initiated in 1968 and expanded throughout 1970s. Without situating these
“revolts” geopolitically, Cubas (2012) seems to create a linear connection between the
experiences of Western feminists and Brazilians. The language used by Cubas (2012)
suggests that feminisms are defined by the reviewer as shared ideals not rooted in a
particular geopolitical context. As with Santos, Pedro, and Rial’s work (2012), and
Arruda and Couto’s one (2011), the 1960s and 70s culture is portrayed as universal.
The power relation involved in the utilization of feminist ideals as a global
context is problematized by Mara Coelho de Souza Lago (2010). In “Feminism,
Psychoanalysis, Gender: Travels and Translations,” Lago (2010) analyzes the
articulations and tensions that exist between feminist theory and psychoanalysis, by
paying close attention to the limitations and benefits of translated theories from Global
North scholars used by feminists in Brazil. The contributions of Global North scholars
enumerated by Lago (2010) are many, and psychoanalysis is seen as a channel through
which many Global North theories are “imported” by Brazilian feminist scholars. On the
one hand, the utilization of Global North theories seems to re-create hegemonic power
33
relations, in which “real” knowledge is deemed a Western privilege. On the other hand,
Lago (2010) supports the understanding that “traveled” theories (or the ones “imported”
by Brazilian scholars) are transformed by Brazilian scholarship, gaining new meanings
when employed in the creation of Brazilian feminist works.
Although Lago (2010) affirms that the works of Judith Butler are probably the
most translated and utilized in Brazil, her list also incorporates other various Western
authors.24 Lago (2010) argues that during the 1970s and 80s, when feminist movements
in Brazil were developing and becoming autonomous, the works of American feminists
were especially relevant to Brazilian scholars. In this context, Brazilian feminisms
preceded the 1970s, but were transformed by the global impact of theories developed by
the Global North. At the same time that Lago (2010) is reflecting upon Western
influences to feminist psychoanalytical theories in Brazil, she supports the understanding
that Brazilian scholars are not simply consuming Global North theories, but appropriating
and transforming these theories through their own work.
The influence of North American scholars and activists is also evident in “Gender
stereotypes in international courts – a challenge to equality: Interview with Rebecca
Cook.” In this ponto de vista, Debora Diniz (2011) interviews Rebecca Cook, a Canadian
scholar and lawyer, who uses a human rights approach to demonstrate how international
courts fail women. Throughout the interview, Diniz (2011) focuses on questions about
24
Lago (2010) makes references to, among others, the works of Simone the Beavoir,
Nancy Chodorow, Carol Gilligan, Joan Scott, Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel, Gayle Rubin,
and Juliet Mitchell.
34
Rebecca Cook’s latest publication,25 and the ways through which Cook understands the
impact of gender stereotypes in international courts. According to Diniz (2011), Rebecca
Cook does not propose an imposition of “universal gender practices,” however, because
Cook believes that cultures are not fair and balanced, she supports that inequality cannot
be justified by national sovereignty. Therefore, Rebecca Cook proposes the use of
international resolutions, such as the Convention to Eliminate all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), as means to enforce gender justice globally
(Diniz 2011).
Because the problem (gender stereotyping) is interpreted as a global issue,
feminist actions against gender stereotypes are understood as every where’s necessity
(Diniz 2011). Therefore, feminism in this interview is conceptualized not only as a
transnational movement, but also as a universal responsibility. By arguing that Rebecca
Cook’s work is extremely respected by Latin American feminists, Diniz (2011)
demonstrates a wide acceptance of universal narratives in terms of gender. Consequently,
feminism becomes the connecting link among cultures and the assumption of singular
shared gender oppression eliminates any dialogue about differences. In fact, feminism
seems to be conceptualized in this interview only in terms of gender, considering that
other power relations, such as race, class or ethnicity are not visible in the discussion.
Also focusing on human rights in their analysis, Jussara Reis Prá and Léa Epping
(2012), argue that feminist engagements in global meetings have favored the elaboration
of international agreements and public policies that favor the protection of women. In
25
Rebecca Cook and Simone Cusack co-authored Gender Stereotyping: Transnational
Legal Perspectives (Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights), a book published in 2010.
35
“Citizenship and feminism in recognition of the women’s human rights,” Prá and Epping
(2012) also assume the existence of universal power relations that marginalize women
everywhere. As a result, the authors conceptualize “women’s interests” as somehow
homogeneous and properly articulated through international agreements to the benefit of
all women. Furthermore, Prá and Epping (2012) argue that human rights are fairly
applicable to all women simply because of the wide participation of feminist
organizations in the creation of international treaties. Yet the authors seem not to consider
the fact that the organizations with access to international conferences and events
organized by the United Nations only represent a privileged group of feminists and
activists.26 Identity categories are basically unchallenged in the narratives of human
rights, and the term “women” is used to mean all women regardless of their race, gender,
class, sexuality, and nationality. Feminism is conceptualized as a struggle for gender
equality that connects all “women’s” voices through international agreements.
Some authors distance themselves from the universal narratives that are
embedded in human rights discourses as they focus on gendered practices at the local
26
While the possibilities of expanding the feminist agenda, access to international
funding and the inclusion of “women of color” are attractive characteristics of
transnationalism, Alvarez (2000) argues that Latin American feminist efforts ended up
placed within a geopolitical hierarchy which is very much institutionalized through the
professionalization of non-profit organizations (NGOs) and the articulation of a global
north/south divide. Globally, Latin American feminist organizations are placed as
receivers of Western solidarity. Locally, the feminist organizations that engage in
transnational efforts become more institutionalized, and are expected to act according to
feminist parameters defined by transnational alliances. As a result, Alvarez maintains that
“the interplay of these two transnational activist logics has brought numerous benefits to
local movements, the predominance of IGO-advocacy activities among growing sectors
of Latin American feminist movements in recent years has had to more ambiguous and
sometimes contradictory local consequences” (32).
36
level. These are also the authors who have a focus on deconstruction and are evidently
influenced by postmodern theories: their works are marked by the conceptualizations of
feminisms as diverse and unstable. This is the case of “Does the muscle damage a
woman? The production of femininities in bodybuilding” (Jaeger and Goeliner 2011),
“The Brazilian feminist movement in the turn of the 20 th century: Reflections on political
subjects in the interface with the concepts of democracy and autonomy” (Adrião, Toneli
and Maluf 2011), and “Intellectuals and militants: Possibilities of dialogue” (Paulilo
2010).
In the first article, Angelita Alice Jaeger and Silvana Vilodre Goeliner (2011) use
cultural studies methodologies to analyze the ways that compulsory femininity is
represented in the sport of bodybuilding. Although Jaeger and Goeliner (2011) support
the idea that the sport “invests” in the preservation of femininity, they also argue that
female body builders are differently “captured” by this discourse, often performing
different forms of “femininity.” In this context, feminist praxes are not conceptualized
either as subverting normative discourses around femininity or as complying with such
discourses. In fact, Jaeger and Goeliner (2011) are committed to demonstrate that bodies
are constructed, and that gendered practices may be performed differently in the same
spaces.
A similar approach is taken by Karla Galvão Adrião, Maria Juracy Figueiras
Toneli, and Sônia Weidner Maluf (2011), who analyze feminist interactions during the
10th Latin American and Caribbean Meeting. Each edition of this event is hosted by a
different country, and the main themes discussed during the event are related to the
37
struggles experienced by feminists in the hosting country. The 10 th meeting happened in
São Paulo, Brazil, with the participation of 1400 women (half of which were Brazilian),
mainly activists, who represent various organizations of special interests under a feminist
umbrella. In this context, Adrião, Toneli, and Maluf (2011) deal with conceptualizations
of feminisms that exist beyond academia, but that also create academic meanings in their
use of a feminist scholarship lens.
According to Adrião, Toneli, and Maluf (2011), participants of the meeting had to
identify themselves as “woman” and “feminist” before they were able to register or
participate. This scenario creates not only essentialized views of “woman” and
“feminist,” but also the interdependence of the two identity categories. However, the
internal politics discussed by Adrião, Toneli, and Maluf (2011) show that practices were
much more inclusive within the meeting. The authors describe, for example, a debate on
whether or not transwomen could attend the events (Adrião, Toneli, and Maluf 2011).
While the debate was heated and the inclusion of transwomen was not unanimously
accepted, participants voted that, in the future, transwomen should be allowed to
participate. According to Adrião, Toneli, and Maluf (2011), this scenario demonstrates
that while “universal identities” are mobilized externally in order to gain rights for
“women,” the movement is fragmented internally, and, more often than not, open to
diverse expressions of “womanhood” and “feminism.”
Adrião, Toneli, and Maluf (2011) maintain that such feminist encounters have
been fundamental to the consolidation of a “feminist doing,” and these encounters aided
38
in forming common agendas in Brazil and Latin America.27 Thus, feminism is
conceptualized as a network of feminisms, in which (mainly) activists focus on particular
struggles and gain power through the establishment of local alliances. In terms of its
thematic, feminism is discussed as capable of transforming social practices and capable
of eradicating gender inequity. Furthermore, feminism is seen as a unified movement that
carries diverse platforms of action and represents distinct interests of various feminist
groups, making postmodernism a consistent practice both inside and outside academia.
In “Intellectuals and militants: Possibilities of dialogue,” Maria Ignez S. Paulilo
(2010) also demonstrates (through a postmodern perspective) that it is possible to
maintain the essentialized forms of identity that characterize feminist activism in
dialogue with deconstructionist scholarship. Paulilo’s (2010) argument departs from the
analysis of Movimento of Mulheres Camponesas - MMC (Peasant Women’s Movement),
and the discourses that frame the MMC’s platform of action. Despite the fact that peasant
women deny a feminist identity, 28 Paulilo (2010) contends that these activists are
feminists because they are preoccupied with the “transformation of a world in which they
are deemed inferior” (928), and states that MMC discourses are essentializing because
they rely on the connection between “women” and “nature.” However, Paulilo (2010)
demonstrates that the concept of “nature” is highly unstable, and that the language used
27
This argument is also supported by Alvarez (2000), who argues that Latin American
feminist encounters precede the influences of global north feminisms in the region.
Alvarez (2000) also argues that these encounters have also opened space for an
expressive solidarity among Latin American feminists.
28
According to Paulilo (2010), this denial is a response to the elitist character of
mainstream feminism, which is connected to “Western middle-class white women” (928).
39
by MMC is mobilized in order to access certain rights, such as government assistance
through the program Bolsa Família,29 that would not be accessible otherwise.
Basing on the work of Joann Scott, Paulilo (2010) argues that deconstruction does
not mean the negation of identities, but rather a perspective in which identities are not
finished. In other words, the conceptualization of identities as “constantly under
construction” does not negate their existence. Furthermore, Paulilo (2010) maintains that
ecofeminism, a field that only now is growing in Brazil, offers the possibility of merging
feminism and ecological activism in ways that facilitate the dialogues between
intellectuals and activists. Although what is meant as Brazilian “ecofeminism” is not
fully discussed by Paulilo (2010), her analysis highlights an understanding of situated
narratives, in which feminisms are simultaneously locally and globally shaped.
The last article this chapter will analyze, “Black feminism: Race, identity, and
reproductive health in Brazil (1975-1993)” is certainly the one that incorporates the most
diverse framework of analysis, and probably the only one other than Paulilo’s (2010)
work in which gender does not stand alone as a feminist concern. In this article, Mariana
Santos Damasco, Marcos Chor Maio, and Simone Monteiro (2012) argue that Black
feminism in Brazil resulted from black women’s activism within both the feminist and
the black movement, and emerged as a resistance to sterilization practices that were
particularly targeting Black women in Brazil. Supporting that the feminist movement
29
Bolsa Família means “family grant” and is a social welfare program that gives a small
cash stipend to low income families who have children. According to BBC News, the
payments are made to leading female heads of household. Consequently, it seems to
make sense for activists to mobilize the identities of “woman” and “mother”(see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8702891.stm).
40
gained visibility after the abertura política30 in 1975, Damasco, Maio, and Monteiro
(2012) seem to advocate that feminist efforts in Brazil began before that period. While
the idea of feminism as a movement preceding Western influence allows for a singular
concept, the Brazilian feminist movement is also a product of transnational efforts. This
influence is mainly evident in the 1980s, when, according to Damasco, Maio, and
Monteiro (2012), the access to Global North feminists’ writings motivated Brazilian
feminists to question racial divisions within the local movement.
The intersectional character of this article is probably facilitated by the fact that
Damasco, Maio, and Monteiro (2012) are analyzing the history of a segment (Black
feminism), and not the entire feminist movement in Brazil. In this context, it is expected
that racial issues will share the center stage with gender issues. However, the authors
dedicate a significant portion of their work to the formation of black feminism in Brazil,
in which they describe the genesis from both feminist and black movements. This focus
contributes to conceptualizations of an overarching feminist movement in the country
(Damasco, Maio, and Monteiro 2012).
Damasco, Maio, and Monteiro (2012) situate the beginning of the feminist
movement in Brazil in the first years of the 20th century, a period in which the authors
characterize feminist engagements as intrinsically elitist. This characterization results
from the fact that “feminism” was practiced only by upper class, college-educated
women, who most likely had received their education abroad (Damasco, Maio, and
30
The abertura política, or political opening, is the name given to the political processes
and the period that allowed the re-structuring of a democratic government after the
dictatorship.
41
Monteiro 2012). According to the authors, by 1975, feminist consciousness raising
groups in Brazil acted in favor of political amnesty, public policies that supported
women’s health and security, and the promotion of workers’ rights (Damasco, Maio, and
Monteiro 2012). On the one hand, the authors discuss feminisms as influenced by Global
North activism. On the other hand, they describe feminisms in Brazil as distinctive, since
feminists’ actions included efforts for democratization and new forms of citizenship. In
addition, they support that Brazilian feminisms became more inclusive and diverse once
Black women introduced intersectional frameworks for the interpretation of power
relations.
The articles analyzed in this chapter demonstrate different conceptualizations,
despite the fact that they can be grouped into three overarching thematics. First, and
representing the majority of articles analyzed here, feminism in Brazil is defined as
intimately connected to Global North feminisms. In some articles, feminism in Brazil is
seen as a result of transnational efforts initiated by Global North feminists, and is
described as “inexistent” in Brazil before 1960s or so. In other articles, feminism in
Brazil is defined as preceding Global North influences. However, for this group of
scholars, Brazilian feminism gained organizing capabilities, or even new strategies of
mobilization, through the influences of the Global North. In some cases, the geopolitical
context is simplified, and Brazil is simply placed within the Global North group. The
political choice of placing Brazil within the Global North/Western cultures is particularly
interesting; whether or not it is a conscious strategy, it demonstrates the perception of a
culture that is privileged and powerful, despite the fact that this culture might not be
42
deemed an “insider” by the Global North. Within this first group of articles, Brazilian
feminisms are placed by REF scholars as part of a feminist movement initiated by
Western powers, a position that is contradictory considering that Brazilian feminisms are
marginal in the United States (see Fitch 2009). This might indicate a paradox in which in
order to be recognized as legitimate thinkers, feminist scholars in Brazil are expected to
theorize feminisms within Global North frameworks.
The second group of articles has more flexible definitions, and tends to
conceptualize feminisms as diverse instead of navigating the murky waters of geopolitics.
This is the case of scholarships that define feminisms in terms of postmodern
frameworks. While postmodernism is deemed the preferred scholarship of academic
feminists in Brazil (as previously discussed), the thematic is only present in about a
quarter of the articles examined as a sample. This second group of articles is also more
focused on feminist cultural studies, and mobilizes the readings of different cultural texts,
which is particularly distinct from the works in which feminism is conceptualized as a
universal movement. Global activism is discussed in the vast majority of articles and
transnational interactions are often presented as fundamental part of “feminist doing.”
The third group seems to be less concerned with discussing feminism as an
overarching movement, and apparently does not mobilize a common theoretical
framework. This group is focused on “branches” of feminisms, and conceptualizes the
movement according to the interests of particular groups: ecofeminism and Black
feminism as two examples. Although some articles indicate the presence of distinct
groups within the larger feminist movement (such as transwomen, lesbian, or “young”
43
feminists), only two articles are particularly focused on situated needs. While the first
group of articles assumes shared ideals independent of geopolitics, race, sexuality or
class, and the second group takes the stance of diversity, this third group is centered
around very specific struggles and is delineated by “differences” within the feminist
movement.
This content analysis helps to inform how feminism is conceptualized by works
published by REF and indicates many ways in which feminisms in Brazil might overlap
with feminisms in the United States. However, this analysis does not offer a precise
measure of the ways that feminists are negotiating the power relations that unite and
segregate the two countries. My next chapter represents an effort to analyze how crosscultural feminisms are implicated in global power relations. More importantly, the next
chapter investigates practices that inform solidarity networks between women of color in
the United States and REF feminists in Brazil.
44
CHAPTER 3
TRANSNATIONAL SOLIDARITY:
A CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF FEMINISMS IN BRAZIL AND IN THE
UNITED STATES THROUGH THE INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF
FEMINISMS OF COLOR
Many scholars agree that Brazilian feminisms developed as a result of
transnational interactions. Jaquette (1989) argues that much of the strategic organizing
against gender oppression in Latin America emerged when Latinas interacted with
American and European feminists during exile. 31 Brito (1986) and Santos, Pedro, and
Rial (2007) maintain that Brazilian intellectuals, escaping the violence of the military
dictatorship (1964-1985), had the opportunity to engage in feminist movements in other
countries, particularly in the United States and France. According to Sardenberg and
Costa (2010), the interactions within United Nations meetings, predominantly the ones
during and after the “UN Decade for women,” also favored not only the emergence of
new forms of activism, but also the appropriation of international languages that served in
the problematization of local issues. In addition, Flávio A. Pierucci (1999) argues that the
knowledge about the works produced by bell hooks favored the organizing efforts of
Black Brazilian women against discriminatory sterilization practices. As a result,
31
The majority of Brazilians who lived in exile during the military dictatorship period did
so between 1965 and 1980. In 1979, the Brazilian president signed the “amnesty law”
granting “forgiveness” to the vast majority of individuals who had their political rights
limited or exterminated as a result of political activism.
45
Brazilian feminisms should not be examined in isolation.
At the same time, feminisms in Brazil cannot be simply analyzed through the
investigation of transnational interactions. Alvarez (1990) demonstrates that various local
mobilizations emerged before the period in which activists were exiled, supporting the
argument that Brazilian feminisms also assumed organic forms that were driven by local
struggles for gender and social justice. In fact, Alvarez (1990) argues that “the military
regime’s economic and social policies indirectly influenced the mobilization of women”
(37), through a focus on practical gender interests. Alvarez further sustains that:
women’s growing involvement in the various organizations that rose in opposition
to military rule enabled them to formulate new claims on the basis of gender, and,
eventually, to organize politically as women. The various opposition currents
afforded key ideological and organizational resources to the women who would
later organize autonomous women’s movements. (1990:58).
The locally-based emergence of feminisms demonstrates that the interactions between
local and global feminisms, and the levels of influence connecting feminist efforts from
Brazil and the United States requires a critical investigation.
What is the level of interaction, similarities and/or contradictions among
feminisms in Brazil, as represented through REF publications, and feminisms in the
United States? The cross-cultural analysis in this chapter is an effort to trace the theories
in REF that inform the solidarity between the works of women of color from the United
States and Brazilian (Global South) feminists. In Chapter 2, my analysis was limited to
the information “readable” at REF publications. In this chapter, I first delineate forms of
scholarship that I believe are accountable to both gender and social justice. Then, I
investigate if these forms of scholarship are used to connect the works of American
46
feminists of color and REF feminists in Brazil. The particular focus on scholarship
developed in the two countries is a direct result from my situatedeness as a Brazilian, as a
woman of color living in the United States, and as a feminist scholar. As with the
previous chapter, my goal is to investigate how feminisms are conceptualized in REF
publications, with a focus on the intersections of race, gender, and global power relations.
The effort of delineating American influences on feminisms in Brazil is in itself a
very complex task. First, feminisms are simultaneously connected and decentralized in
the United States, and gender justice is addressed through various strategies. According
to American feminists’ perception of domination and the approaches that they may take
to deal with particular gender issues, they can be classified as liberal, womanist, socialist,
postcolonial, radical, or Marxist, to name a few (see Lorber 2010; Hackett and Haslanger
2006). Considering the diversity of American feminisms, it is very likely that REF
feminisms would fit multiple feminist niches in the United States. However, because I am
particularly concerned with politics of alliances that represent critical postures within
contemporary geopolitical power relations (or are at least critical about social, political,
and economic hierarchical power structures that exist in the global context), this chapter
is informed by the frameworks developed or enhanced by women of color feminisms in
United States.
The underlining principle guiding this chapter is that women of color feminisms
enable the critical understanding of gender in terms of intersectional levels of oppression,
particularly race, sexuality, and class, in the global context. Furthermore, the similar
experiences of women of color in the United States and Global South women,
47
demonstrated through the marginal position within larger movements for gender justice,
allows for: 1) the awareness of intersectionality; 2) a transnational solidarity in which
white supremacy, neoliberalism, and other racial/ethnic power relations are called into
question. According to Mohanty (2002), a feminist solidarity model “assumes both
distance and proximity (specific/universal) as its analytic strategy” (521). In addition, this
model makes visible “the interconnectedness of the histories, experiences, and struggles
of U.S. women of color, white women, and women from the Third World/South”
(Mohanty 2002:522). While a transnational solidarity is expressed in the works of many
feminist non-profit organizations (NGOs) in Brazil (see Eschle and Maiguashca 2010),
not much is known about its expressions within feminist scholarship.
As discussed in Chapter 1, Chowdhury (2009) suggests that the inclusion of antiracist work of American feminists of color in transnational feminisms can minimize the
imperial effects of hegemonic feminisms from the United States. Within this perspective,
REF feminists who utilize theories developed beyond traditional forms of “white
feminism”32 are positioning themselves against trends of victimization and creating an
environment of agency. The identification of a transnational use of theories developed by
women of color in the United States might inform healthier interactions between feminist
knowledges that are produced in the Global North and consumed on a global scale. More
importantly, these knowledges inform power relations in which Western values are not
imposed without critique, a perspective that is consistent with the postcolonial, critical
race and postmodern theoretical frameworks guiding my investigation.
32
I am using “white feminism” as a contrast to women of color feminisms not only to
call attention to whiteness as a category (despite its hegemonic invisibility).
48
In order to challenge the global hierarchies in which Global South women are
deemed eternally “lagging behind,” I search not only for the use of women of color
feminisms, but also for methodological practices (e.g. standpoint) that demonstrate
critical forms of feminist work. I pay close attention to the language used by REF authors
and the ways through which these authors positioned themselves in relation to their
research and the issues that they problematize. What are the voices included in REF texts
and how are these voices used to construct feminist methodologies?
The works of women of color are widely expressed and certainly more visible in
American feminist academia in the last two decades or so. Despite the fact that a diverse
group of scholars is engaging in anti-racist feminist work, it is important to consider that
the very challenge to white privilege and racism within the feminist movement in the
United States emerged from women of color’s resistance and theorizing. According to
Benita Roth (2004), racial and ethnic feminisms developed in the midst of second wave
in the United States, simultaneously as a form of resistance to the all-white feminist
movement that reached the mainstream and as a critical affirmation of gender as a form
of oppression within the Black and Chicano movements.
Although Roth (2004) argues that “Black and Chicana feminists’ political stances
should also be understood as in dialogue with white feminists, and not merely in a
reactive way,” the failure of feminist scholars to “think in an intersectional fashion about
second-wave feminist mobilizations […] waded into a problem of where to draw the line
in calling [such movements] ‘feminist’” (8). This difficulty in being recognized as
“feminists” is a shared condition experienced by women of color during second wave
49
feminisms in the United States and by Global South women who mobilize around
practical gender interests. In both cases, a hegemonic conceptualization of feminisms,
shaped along racial and ethnic hierarchies, delineates who is acknowledged and who is
not. By placing the contributions of women of color at the center of the discourse, I make
evident the practices within REF that address hierarchies that may exist within feminisms
as well as within transnational paradigms.
The use of theories developed by women of color informs the ways in which REF
feminisms exist beyond Western hegemony, and the ways that REF feminisms are able to
address context-specific struggles of Brazilian communities. Western scholarship is
centered in dualistic frameworks that are sustained by the reconstruction of oppressive
practices that are not beneficial to Global South women (see Minh-Ha 2009; Mohanty
1991; Oyěwùmí 2005). According to Trinh T. Minh-Ha (2009), Western knowledges
must be critiqued for constructing hegemonic, essentialized, and one-dimensional
interpretations of the “Third World woman.” Transnational forms of feminisms that are
funded or supported by American feminisms are often framed by Western cultural,
political, social, and economic hegemony. They connect feminist scholarship and
activism to the needs of “middle-class white women” which then is used to determine the
“needs” of Global South women (see Minh-Ha 1989; Oyěwùmí 2005; Njambi 2011). In
this context, Western supremacy cannot be disassociated from white privilege, and “third
world women’s” acceptance of unproblematized “traditional” theories might implicate a
self-placement in a system where marginalization is inevitable.
50
Another reason for such cross-cultural analysis is the identification of negras’s
inclusion in Brazilian scholarship and activism. Kia Lilly Caldwell demonstrates a
vibrant presence of black women within feminist movements in the country by arguing
that:
Black Brazilian women from different social classes and political orientations
have taken up the banner of self-representation through activism in the black
women’s movement. Black women’s collective mobilization in recent decades
has called attention to the intersection of race and gender in structuring social
relationships and constructing individual and collective identities in Brazil.
(2007:150)
Therefore, according to Caldwell (2007), Black women in Brazil are actively working
within grassroots groups and formal NGOs. The issue in question is whether Black
women also have a space within Brazilian feminist scholarship? According to João Bôsco
Hora Góis (2008), while the gender gap is almost insignificant in Brazilian academia and
women represent the majority of enrolled students in many courses, the racial gap is still
pervasive and college enrollment rates of non-white individuals are small. As a result, I
am also committed in this chapter to understanding if REF scholarship is racially
inclusive.
In sum, this chapter examines how racialized gender interests are discussed within
feminisms in Brazil and, more importantly, if a transnational solidarity between feminists
of color in the United States and feminists in Brazil is expressed through contemporary
articles published by REF.
51
Cross-Cultural Analysis
As discussed in the previous chapter, in “Black feminism: Race, identity and
reproductive health in Brazil (1975-1993),” Damasco, Maio, and Monteiro (2012) clearly
use an intersectional framework to demonstrate how the limited access to reproductive
health in Brazil favored the emergence of an organized Black feminist movement in the
country. More importantly, Damasco, Maio, and Monteiro (2012) argue that the
recognition of eugenic undertones within sterilization practices in Brazil politicized Black
women, creating a sense of identity that fortified Black feminist activism. Although the
authors agree with Flávio A. Pierucci’s argument (1999) that Brazilian feminists were
inspired by bell hook’s, Ain’t I a woman: Black women feminism (1981) to incorporate
race to feminist debates, that is the only reference that Damasco, Maio, and Monteiro
(2012) make to women of color from the United States.
In terms of bibliographical references, Negras in Brazil: Reinvisioning black
women, citizenship, and the politics of identity, by Caldwell (2007), is cited by Damasco,
Maio, and Monteiro (2012). Despite the fact that Caldwell (2007) can be considered a
feminist of color from the United States, her anthropological research is located in Brazil.
As a result, I would argue that Caldwell’s work (2007) is insufficient to trace
international forms of solidarity because Brazilian scholars and activists most likely
embraced her research through her fieldwork in Brazil. 33
33
Caldwell (2007) makes reference to the relationships that she established in Brazil
while conducting her fieldwork, demonstrating that she was sometimes considered an
insider and was invited to join Black women’s meetings and networks. The complex roles
that Caldwell assumed as an insider/outsider make it harder to solely situate her as a
woman of color in the United States.
52
As in Damasco, Maio, and Monteiro’s work (2012), all the other articles with the
exception of one use intersectionality as a framework of analysis, but make no direct
reference to theories produced by feminists of color in the United States. This is
particularly relevant if we consider that none of these articles resulted from the search for
“intersectionality.” In “A lot of sex, a little chalk, almost no eraser and many tests:
School scenes involving gender and sexuality,” for example, Fernando Seffner (2011)
analyzes how gender and sexuality interplay in some middle and high school interactions
that he observed during his fieldwork in Brazil. Despite the fact that, according to the
abstract, Seffner’s work (2011) will privilege the transgressions of “gender and sexuality
with race, class, religion, generation and family morals” (561) these categories are
invisible in the actual text. Also, while he raises many pedagogical questions related to
freedom of expression within educational institutions, his work does not seem connected
to feminisms of color from the United States.
Maria Cristina Aranha Bruschini and Arlene Martinez Ricoldi (2012) also employ
an intersectional framework of analysis in which race, class, schooling, and employment
status are used as variables to measure both the qualitative and the quantitative data
collected about domestic work done by men. The authors argue that male participation in
domestic work cannot be ignored, although they agree that domestic work is still
primarily discussed in Brazil as “women’s chores” (Bruschini and Ricoldi 2012). In their
analysis, race is not considered a significant variable, considering that the data collected
by them was reasonably similar for white and non-white men (Bruschini and Ricoldi
2012). The cross-racial similarity may be due to the conceptualization of housework used
53
by the authors,34 in which for-profit domestic work (executed by farm keepers, who are
mainly non-white, for example) is not taken into account. Yet the authors clearly
demonstrate the effort of analyzing labor in terms of a racial variable. As with the
previously discussed works, Bruschini and Ricoldi (2012) do not relate their analysis to
any contributions of feminists of color from the United States.
In some articles the authors demonstrate an intersectional awareness, but choose
not to proceed with an intersectional analysis. In “The construction of an agenda
concerning gender, socio-environmental disasters, and development” by Rosana de
Carvalho Martinelli Freitas (2010), for example, the author argues that gender intersects
with other power relations in determining who suffers the most significant impacts of
environmental catastrophes, but she does not give examples of how other categories play
a role in the exposure to environmental hazards. While the vast majority of Brazilians
living in or being exposed to environmental hazardous spaces are non-white (see Ramos
2007), gender apparently stands alone throughout Freitas’ analysis (2010). In addition,
despite the fact that Freitas (2010) makes the case for a gendered analysis of the impacts
of environmental disasters, gender is mainly used to inform the impacts experienced by
“women.”
While intersectionality is at least mentioned in the majority of the texts,
standpoint theory is only clearly expressed in two articles. In fact, the majority of the
works in this sample does not offer enough information about the authors’ standpoint,
34
Bruschini and Ricoldi (2012) concentrate on the International Labor Organization’s
definition of “family responsibilities” to delineate domestic work. According to this
definition, family responsibilities are related to any activity of care to children or
dependant immediate family members.
54
and do not make an explicit effort to include marginal voices in the construction of
knowledge. In one article, the writing style seems to actually discourage the use of
standpoint: Seffner’s viewpoint (2011) is abstracted through the use of third person plural
as well as through the use of phrases such as “it is known,” implying the ultimate
invisibility of his perspectives. The only two articles in which standpoint is mobilized as
a methodology are “Gender and disabilities: Intersections and perspectives” (Mello and
Nuernberg 2012), and “Overcoming barriers and prejudices: Black women athletes’
trajectories, narratives, and memories” (Farias 2011).
Discussing how disability studies can benefit gender studies and vice versa, Anahi
Guedes Mello and Adriano Henrique Nuernberg (2012) propose an intersectional
framework in which gender and disabilities are not seen in isolation. According to the
authors, both gender and disabilities are socially constructed and situated within the body,
therefore creating various analytical bridges between disabilities studies and feminist
scholarship (Mello and Nuernberg 2012). Although the authors might have not positioned
themselves within disabilities discourses, they argue that most of the works cited by them
were written by women with disabilities (Mello and Nuernberg 2012). By doing so, they
bring forward the perspectives of women who could have been marginalized by academia
to the center of their discourse. More importantly, they situate their arguments within
claims specifically delineated by women with disabilities, which informs a well rounded
application of standpoint.
“Overcoming barriers and prejudices: Black women athletes’ trajectories,
narratives and memories” is another work in which standpoint theory is successfully used
55
to situate the analysis. Arguing that social sciences has gained a lot from microanalysis, 35
Cláudia Maria de Farias (2011) uses the situated narratives of two Black Brazilian
women who engaged in Olympic sports between the 1960s and 1970s to demonstrate the
intersectional implications of racial, gendered, economic, and generational power
relations. Through the experiences of Eliane Pereira de Souza (swimming) and Aída dos
Santos (track and field), Farias (2011) challenges the use of isolated binaries as categories
of exclusion, such as black/white, and male/female. Arguing that women’s experiences
are hybrid and that plurality is only visible through intersectional analysis, Farias’ article
(2011) is the one that seems more closely connected to the conceptual frameworks that
often characterize women of color feminisms in the United States. The connection
between Farias’ work (2011) and women of color feminisms from the United States is
further expressed through the use of Gloria Anzaldúa’s work about hybrid identities
(although this reference is done indirectly through the use of Cláudia de Lima Costa and
Eliana Ávila’s work).
The article written by Farias (2011) also seems to be one of the few that is
grounded on critical race inquiry. Farias (2011) demonstrates a concern around white
privilege through the selected narratives used in her text. Describing Eliane Pereira de
Souza’s experiences within an “all-white” sport (swimming), Farias (2011) calls attention
to the ways that Eliane Pereira de Souza’s race was marginalized by both her peers and
the crowd that cheered for female swimmers. In the case of Aída dos Santos, Farias
35
According to Farias (2011) microanalysis is a methodological approach in which
individual roles are used to demonstrate the processes that operate in the construction of
social roles.
56
(2011) argues that Santos’ race did not have an extreme oppressive impact on her sports
identity because this athlete was competing in an Olympic modality in which must
competitors were (are) Black. Nevertheless, the racial identity of both Eliane Pereira
Souza and Aída dos Santos are understood as complexly informed by various power
relations that are not mutually exclusive.
Critical race feminism is also one of the leading frameworks utilized by Jonatas
Ferreira and Cynthia Hamlin (2010) in “Women, Negroes and other monsters: An essay
on non-civilized bodies.” In this essay/ensaio, Ferreira and Hamlin (2010) review the
literature that problematizes how Western scientific traditions constructed deviant bodies
in order to legitimize racial hierarchies. Specifically discussing the histories of Sara
Baartman, 36 Ferreira and Hamlin (2010) show how race is socially constructed and
responsible for the marginalization of non-white peoples. According to the authors, Sara
Baartman exemplifies the impacts of racial constructions as her body was simultaneously
the “site of investigation” and “the proof” of deviance (Ferreira and Hamlin 2010). More
importantly, her body merged articulations of gender and race in ways that created noncivilized bodies and the need to monitor them. Although Ferreira and Hamlin’s work
(2010) is a literature review, it is important to consider that, by being publicly available
in Portuguese, it helps to facilitate the contact between feminist scholarship in Brazil and
critical race feminism in the United States and elsewhere.
36
Sara Baartman (also pejoratively known as the “Hotentot Venus”) was first brought
from Africa to Europe as a biological rarity, and became the center of attention through
her exhibition in “freak shows.” After her death, Baartman’s body was mutilated in the
name of scientific research by Georges Cuvier. Up to early 1970s, Baartman’s remains
were still exhibited in the Musée de l’Homme in France (Ferreira and Hamlin 2010).
57
The only work that did not express an understanding of intersectional framework,
and did not include any reference to race was Teresa Sacchet’s, “Political Representation,
Group Representation and Quota Policy: Perspectives and Feminist Views” (2012). In
this article, Sacchet (2012) discusses the polemics of affirmative action, taking a closer
look at how feminists problematize the exclusion of women in decision making
processes. However, Sacchet’s analysis (2012) is fully centered on mainstream women’s
political participation and is less interested in analytical perspectives that could enhance
the understanding of the needs of affirmative action in the case of non-white Brazillian
women. By choosing to use a liberal, a gynocentric, and a post-structural approach,
Sacchet (2012) referred to many works of white American feminists that are not directly
engaged with women of color feminisms.
Based on the REF articles that I analyzed in this chapter, intersectionality is
widely used as a theoretical framework and/or methodology, but rarely accredited to
women of color from the United States. In fact, the impression that emerges from REF
research is that intersectionality is chiefly accepted as a basic framework of analysis, in
which the authors are not expected to justify the reasons why they choose to investigate
different categories of oppression. Oddly, this is not applicable to some theories, as I
demonstrated in Chapter 2, such as the ones related to gender issues that seem to be
always recognized as “Judith Butler’s work.” While intersectionality is easily
identifiable, standpoint theory, when used, is mostly invisible. None of the selected
authors argued that their work was framed by their own standpoint, and only a few
58
argued that they were invested in bringing the voices of particular groups of women
because such voices could contribute to the development of feminist knowledge. 37
The antiglobalization feminist efforts and the connections between feminists and
leftist parties discussed by Jaquette (1989) might help to clarify some of the reasons why
Brazilians feminist scholars may be skeptical about using works produced in the United
States. In other words, it could be the case that, in an effort to resist American
imperialism, some scholars might shy away from American scholarship. Nevertheless,
the fact that white American feminists (such as Judith Butler and Iris M. Young) are
among the most referenced scholars in REF articles cannot be overlooked. While
antiglobalization feminist praxis might prevent some transnational use of theories, they
do not prevent all forms of international exchange; this points to a direct way in which
racial categories might interfere in the selection of what is legitimized as “feminist”
work.
The significant disregard to theories developed by women of color in the United
States might result from various factors. First, specific writing styles in Brazil might
demonstrate different approaches to certain forms of theory. In that context, knowledges
that reach an academic mainstream might be considered too basic to be explained or
37
Western writing aesthetics, marked by a fixation on scientific objectivity, support a
clear distinction between researcher and research. In this context, academic works that
are framed by standpoint narratives are delegitimized as personal, subjective, and
ultimately unscientific. Taking into account that knowledge is not produced in a
“vacuum” and that social contexts shape the construction of knowledge, many feminist
authors sustain that scientific accountability emerges from standpoint and situated
narratives (see Collins 1999; Haraway 1991; Haraway 1999; Haraway 2003; Mihn-ha
1989).
59
referred to all the time. In practice, citation methods or bibliographical references might
be designed in ways that do not always trace sources that are delivered through a
secondary scholarship. One way to investigate this possibility is by further examining the
works of Brazilian authors that are deemed primary sources in the selected articles. I
assume that, if the problematized absence of women of color results from a citation style
in which only the most recent contributions are cited by the researcher, we might be able
to clearly identify the utilization of theories of color by tracing the citations backwards.
Observing that about a dozen articles published before 2010 were found in REF’s
archives through the search for intersectionality and standpoint, I am hesitant to argue
that women of color from the United States have not represented significant influences to
feminist scholars in Brazil. Rather, I believe that theoretical trends might have been
responsible for making such influences invisible after 2010. As discussed in the
introduction and further analyzed in Chapters 1 and 2, contemporary scholarship in
Brazil, represented through the works published by REF, has been leaning towards
postmodern frameworks that are basically expressed through gender issues.
Another possibility that cannot be dismissed is the fact that an independent form
of “intersectional” theory could have developed in Brazil. Although Brito (1986) and
Wolff (2007) strongly support the idea that many of the foundations of Brazilian
feminism were imported from northern countries, neither Brito (1986) nor Wolff (2007)
discuss what was specifically imported. Even if the specific contributions discussed by
Pierucci (1999) are taken into account, not enough information is available to assert that
intersectionality, as used in Brazil, emerged from interactions between American
60
feminists and feminists in Brazil. It is possible that such methodology emerged with the
locally based movements discussed by Alvarez (1990) that preceded transnational
engagements. More importantly, to assume that this body of theory was created in the
United States is to take an ethnocentric position that can be flawed in many ways. In
other words, I am not disregarding the fact that Brazilians are not only consuming but are
also producing frameworks of their own.
It could also be the case that the influence of women of color from the United
States in Brazilian scholarship is minimal and, therefore, only visible in exceptional
contexts. This could have resulted from many practices, including the limited access to
translated works; however, English does not seem to be a significant barrier, considering
that many works and terms are used by Brazilian scholars in their original format and that
many scholars have accessed American literature through study-abroad experiences.
Another reason that diminishes the impact that can be attributed to “language barriers” is
the fact that many women of color from the United States, particularly Latina/Chicana
feminists, have also published in Spanish, a language that is very accessible to Brazilian
scholars.38
A final consideration, which is certainly the most critical, is the deliberate
ignorance of works produced by feminists of color in the United States. If white scholars
are named, and their theories receive proper accreditation, why is the same not applicable
to women of color? How can the myth of a racial democracy be challenged by feminists,
38
Although the access to any foreign language cannot be compared to the access to
works that are written and published in Portuguese, it is important to consider that
Spanish is so popular among feminist scholars in Brazil that Latin American works
published by REF preserve their original format and are available only in Spanish.
61
if academic works seem to be more sympathetic to theories developed by white Western
feminists? This is problematic because while selective memory might be unconsciously
exercised, it is certainly not innocent. In other words, the maintenance of a racial
hierarchy within REF publications demonstrates ways through which white privilege still
in effect in the Brazilian academy. Feminist scholarship demands a critical investigation
of the power relations that are also re-constructed within feminist academia. Furthermore,
the fact that scholars belong to an intellectual, economic, and (often) racial elite in Brazil
makes the questioning of privilege even more crucial to the understanding of practices
observed in the selected REF publications.
62
CONCLUSION
Throughout this work I proposed the analysis of contemporary academic
conceptualizations of feminisms in Brazil by tracing feminist discourses available at
REF. I also advocated cross-culturally analyzing themes that inform healthier relations
between American and Brazilian feminists in the context of global feminisms. With the
goal of raising awareness in the United States about the ways in which Brazilian scholars
are conceptualizing feminisms, I attempted to first identify patterns within works
published by REF. As I further progressed in my research endeavors, I tried to identify a
dialogue between REF feminisms and the articulations of women of color in the United
States, as I believe that such articulations stand for feminist principles that better situate
efforts for transnational alliances.
Although the proximities between Brazilian feminisms and Latin American
feminisms are widely accepted by feminist scholars in the region, and some works
analyzed here make clear reference to Latin American encounters and solidarity
networks, such as the article written by Adrião, Figueiras, and Maluf (2011), Brazilian
feminisms seem to be placed in a global system that exists beyond the Latin American
region. In fact, the use of Western developed concepts, such as human rights, and the
significant value attributed to global networks, such as the ones developed within the
United Nations, demonstrate that Brazilians are somehow preoccupied with a wider
63
global involvement. This preoccupation is particularly evident in the works authored by
Diniz (2011) and Prá and Epping (2012).
In terms of diversity, although REF feminist scholars are approaching different
themes, feminisms seem to be more unified than not. The observance of postmodern
frameworks is a connecting thread. The fact that I concentrated my efforts in analyzing
only works published by REF might justify such homogeneity, considering that the
journal is, after all, published by a single institution and is edited by the same group of
people. It will be interesting to compare and contrast the findings compiled here with
research that has been focused on other Brazilian academic sources in order to investigate
if this homogeneity is shared among the wider academic community in Brazil.
While I hoped to find some postcolonial problematizations that would critically
positioned Brazilian scholarship within the Global North/South divide, I identified efforts
in which Brazilian scholars approximate feminisms in Brazil to the Global North. Brazil
seems to be situated within the West/Global North in the analyses done by Arruda and
Couto (2011), Cubas (2012), and Santos, Pedro, and Rial (2012). Although this proximity
is very contradictory, it might represent the ways through which Brazilian academic
communities are responding to the current statuses of a “BRIC” granted to Brazil by the
international community. In addition, this proximity might further express the fact that, as
discussed by Góis (2008), the Brazilian academy is still mainly accessible to a
racial/social elite. The experiences of Brazilian feminist scholars mainly in the United
States and France during the exile, discussed by Brito (1986) and Santos, Pedro and Rial
(2007) might also have created a tradition of camaraderie, in which the influences of
64
Western knowledge endured the many decades that could have transformed feminist
scholarship. As a result, if postcolonial perspectives exist, they are mainly invisible
within the selected sample, and are clearly expressed only in the article by Ferreira and
Hamlin (2010), which challenges the Western scientific traditions that favored the
construction of race. Consequently, the methodological choices that are used to frame
feminist discourses in Brazil seem to ignore postcolonial works at the same time that they
give voice to “traditional” Western feminisms. Feminisms in Brazil are mainly
conceptualized as extensions of Global North scholarship.
Despite the focus on fragmentation of postmodern scholarship and the wide
emphasis on differences, multiplicities, fragmentation and relativity, postmodern
frameworks are primarily used by REF feminists in terms of gender. When gender is not
discussed within a postmodern framework, it is often used to discuss the condition of
“women,” and this category is rarely problematized. In only one article, written by
Bruschini and Ricoldi (2012), gender entailed discussions about non-female bodies. My
impression is that postmodernism, as used within the selected feminist scholarship, is
largely insufficient to destabilize the definition of “women.” Furthermore, gender is
primarily used as a central and independent category by many authors: for example,
Diniz (2011), Freitas (2010), Prá and Epping (2012), and Sacchet (2012).
With regards to race, many questions can be raised here. REF scholars, such as
Farias (2011), are critical about the racial democracy myth, and are evidently prepared to
incorporate racial critiques in their works. However, a couple authors, such as Freitas
(2010), cited race as a category of oppression that affected gender (women), but fell short
65
in creating distinctions between races, and ignore how different races were implicated in
particular power relations. As was the concept of “gender,” the concept of race in REF
articles seems to be directly associated with non-white Brazilians. In fact, in none of the
works I analyzed were the author’s race was evident. The authors’ local situatedness is
almost always dismissed, creating a stiff distance between the researcher and the
research. As I discussed in Chapter 3, although references are made about the ways
intersections of race, gender, sexuality and class further work to the marginalization of
Blacks in Brazil, very little is discussed about the ways Black Brazilian women are
contributing to feminist scholarship and activism in the country.
While several articles are literally shaped and strengthened by intersectionality,
the authors did not develop a clear methodology that explains their intersectional
approach. As a result, intersectionality is neither accredited to theories produced by
women of color in the United States nor to theories produced anywhere else. This is
applicable to the works by Ferreira and Hamlin (2010), Bruschini and Ricoldi (2012),
Freitas (2010), and Seffner (2011). In fact, intersectionality seems to be taken as a
“universal” framework of analysis. If the awareness of intersectional oppression was
inspired by the works of feminists of color from the United States, as indicated by
Pierucci (1999), not giving some credit to these feminists certainly depoliticizes the work
of women of color who, as demonstrated by Roth (2004), had to carve their way towards
the center of feminist scholarship in the United States.
The most significant finding, and the one that might benefit investigations in the
United States, is that REF scholars seem committed to practices that exist beyond
66
academia. While some articles demonstrate fissures between academics and activists,
more often than not authors are making the case for similarities or at least possibilities of
alliances, as shown in the works by Adrião, Toneli, and Maluf (2011), Damasco, Maio,
and Monteiro (2012), and Paulilo (2010). The intensive way through which public
policies and transnational efforts are analyzed within academic texts, evident in the
articles written by Damasco, Maio, and Monteiro (2012), Freitas (2010), and Prá and
Epping (2012), also demonstrates a preoccupation with both practical and strategic
feminist interests.
Few articles from REF demonstrated an effort of conceptualizing feminisms or
feminist praxis without centering their arguments on Western feminist ideals. However,
the ways in which this interaction is discussed demonstrate that the level of influences
may vary, and that feminists in Brazil are not mere consumers of theory.
67
APPENDIXES
APPENDIX 1 – REF VOLUME 18, NUMERO 1 - 2010
Sumário
Coordenação Editoral
Editorial
Coordenação Editoral
Artigos
Análisis genético para la identificación de niños apropiados: construcción política y
científica de la “naturaleza” y el parentesco
Sabina Amantze Regueiro
Os psicólogos na rede de assistência a mulheres em situação de violência
Heloisa Hanada, Ana Flávia Pires Lucas D'Oliveira, Lilia Blima Schraiber
A maternidade na política de humanização dos cuidados ao bebê prematuro e/ou de baixo
peso – Programa Canguru
Renata Meira Véras, Martha Azucena Traverso-Yépez
Do campo à “Campanha”: gênero, performance e narrativas orais na fronteira entre o
Brasil e o Uruguai
Luciana Hartmann
O cinema como pedagogia cultural: significações por mulheres idosas
Wânia Ribeiro Fernandes, Vera Helena Ferraz de Siqueira
Prostitución en Galicia: clientes e imaginarios femeninos
Agueda Gómes Suárez, Silvia Pérez Freire
De Gabriela a Juma – imagens eróticas femininas nas telenovelas brasileiras
Luciana Rosar Fornazari Klanovicz
Ponto de Vista
Conversando sobre psicanálise: entrevista com Judith Butler
Patrícia Porchat Pereira da Silva Knudsen
Artigos Temáticos
Apresentação
Mara Coelho de Souza Lago
Encrenca de gênero nas teorizações em psicologia
Sandra Azerêdo
Feminismo, psicanálise, gênero: viagens e traduções
Mara Coelho de Souza Lago
Cartografias clínicas, dispositivos de gêneros, Estratégia Saúde da Família
Wiliam Siqueira Peres
Os relatórios Masters & Johnson: gênero e as práticas psicoterapêuticas sexuais a partir
da década de 70
Tito Sena
68
7
11
33
61
81
101
121
141
161
171
175
189
205
221
Os segredos da adoção e o imperativo da matriz bioparental
Fernando Silva Teixeira Filho
Resenhas
Sell, Teresa Adada. Identidade homossexual e normas sociais: histórias de vida
Fábio Alexandre Silva Bezerra
Uziel, Anna Paula. Homossexualidade e adoção
Florencia Herrera
Muzart, Zahidé Lupinacci. Uma casa sem cor
Kelen Benfenatti Paiva
Robles-silva, Leticia. La invisibilidad del cuidado a los enfermos crónicos: un estudio
cualitativo en el barrio de Oblatos
María Guadalupe Ramírez-Contreras
Castelo Branco, Pedro Vilarinho. História e masculinidades: a prática escriturística dos
literatos e as vivências no início do século XX
Mário Martins Viana Júnior
Rezende, Maria Valéria. O vôo da guará vermelha
241
263
265
268
269
271
274
Sandro Brincher
Agenda
Coordenação Editorial
277
Colaboradoras/es
Coordenação Editorial
279
Errata
Coordenação Editorial
69
APPENDIX 2 – REF VOLUME 18, NUMERO 2 – 2010
Sumário
Coordenação Editorial
Editorial
Coordenação Editorial
Artigos
Ofélia morta – do discurso à imagem
Márcia Tiburi
Da star à escritora-diva: a dinâmica dos objetos na sociedade de consumo
Marcio Markendorf
Bajo presión: primera relación sexual de adolescentes de Trelew (Argentina)
Daniel Eduardo Jones
Divorciados, na forma da lei: discursos jurídicos nas ações judiciais de divórcio em
Florianópolis (1977 a 1985)
Marlene de Fáveri, Teresa Adami Tanaka
Reflexiones sobre una etnografía feminista del Software Libre en Colombia
Tania Pérez Bustos
Mulheres nas so(m)bras: invisibilidade, reciclagem e dominação viril em presídios
masculinamente mistos
Leni Beatriz Correia Colares, Luiz Antônio Bogo Chies
Transversalidade de gênero e políticas sociais no orçamento do estado de Mato Grosso
Rosângela Saldanha Pereira, Xavier Rambla, Kamila Paceluika Silva, Cássia Daiane
Ciriaco
No meio do caminho entre o privado e o público: um debate sobre o papel das mulheres
na política de assistência social
Cássia Maria Carloto, Silvana Aparecida Mariana
Ensaio
Mulheres cientistas: aspectos da vida e obra de Khäte Schwarz
Eva Alterman Blay
Ponto de Vista
As estratégias do gênero: entrevista com Saskia Sassen
Carmen Sílvia Moraes Rial
Artigos Temáticos
Profissões, trabalhos: coisas de mulheres
Cristina Scheibe Wolff
Identidade de gênero e identidade profissional no campo de trabalho
Paula Viviane Chies
Profissão: oficial engenheira naval da Marinha de Guerra do Brasil
Maria Rosa Lombardi
Participação no mercado de trabalho e no trabalho doméstico: homens e mulheres têm
condições iguais?
Regina Madalozzo, Sergio Ricardo Martins, Ludmila Shiratori
Rotas de ingresso, trajetórias e acesso das mulheres ao legislativo – um estudo
comparado entre Brasil e Argentina
Clara Araújo
Mulheres em construção: o papel das mulheres mutirantes na construção de casas
populares
Rebeca Buzzo Fertrin, Lea Maria Leme Strini Velho
70
295
301
319
339
359
385
407
425
451
473
491
503
507
529
547
567
585
Resenhas
Nascimento, Alcileide Cabral do; Faria Grillo, Maria Ângela de. Cultura, gênero e
infância: nos labirintos da história
Ana Carolina Eiras Coelho Soares
Le Goff, Jacques; Truong, Nicolas. Uma história do corpo na Idade Média
Diogo da Silva Roiz
Vasques, Maria L. Osta. El Sufrágio
Lorena Zomer, Mário Martins Viana Jr
Blay, Eva Alterman. Assassinato de mulheres e Direitos Humanos
Maria Eduarda Ramos
Teixeira, Analba Brazão. Nunca você sem mim: homicidassuicidas nas relações
afetivoconjugais
Patrícia Rosalba Salvador Moura Costa, Miriam Pillar Grossi
Vidal, Paloma. Mais ao sul
Raul J. M. Arruda Filho
Agenda
Coordenação Editorial
Colaboradoras/es
Coordenação Editorial
71
607
610
614
617
620
622
625
629
APPENDIX 3 – REF VOLUME 18, NUMERO 3 - 2010
Sumário
Coordenação Editorial
Editorial
Coordenação Editorial
Nota de Falecimento
Coordenação Editorial
Artigos
Práticas de gênero e carreiras políticas: vertentes explicativas
Luis Felipe Miguel, Flávia Biroli
El camino hacia el empoderamiento político de las mujeres
Amparo Novo Vázques
Los “sistemas de cuota” y sus efectos en los parlamentos y en los partidos políticos
Gema Sánchez Medero
‘Mujeres’: destinatarias privilegiadas de los planes sociales de inicios del siglo XXI –
Reflexiones desde una perspectiva crítica de género
Claudia Anzorena
Mulheres caribenhas escrevem a migração e a diáspora
Carole Boyce Davies
O activismo estético feminista de Nikki Craft
Rui Pedro Fonseca
Swing, o adultério consentido
Olivia Von Der Weid
Ensaio
Mulheres, negros e outros monstros: um ensaio sobre corpos não civilizados
Jonatas Ferreira, Cynthia Hamlin
Narrativas da sexualidade: Pressupostos para uma poética queer
Anselmo Peres Alós
Dossiê
Mulheres e o meio ambiente
Camem Susana Tornquist, Teresa Kleba Lisboa, Marcos Freire Montysuma
Desenvolvimento Sustentável com perspectiva de gênero - Brasil, México e Cuba:
Mulheres protagonistas no meio rural
Teresa Kleba Lisboa, Mailiz Gariboti Lusa
A construção de uma agenda para as questões de gênero, desastres socioambientais e
desenvolvimento
Rosana de Carvalho Martinelli Freitas
Transversalização da perspectiva de gênero ou instrumentalização das mulheres?
Marie France Labrecque
Mulheres da floresta do Vale do Guaporé e suas interações com o meio ambiente
Tereza Almeida Cruz
Intelectuais & militantes e as possibilidades de diálogo
Maria Ignez S. Paulilo
Resenhas
Manoel, Ivan Aparecido. Igreja e educação feminina (1859-1919): uma face do
conservadorismo
André Dioney Fonseca
Diaz-Benitez, María Elvira; FIGARI, Carlos Eduardo (Orgs.). Prazeres dissidentes
72
647
652
653
681
703
725
747
765
789
811
837
865
871
889
901
913
927
941
Claudia Regina Nichnig
Leon, María Antonia García de; Figares, María Dolores Fernández. Antropólogas,
politólogas y sociólogas (género, biografia y cc. sociales)
Cristiani Bereta da Silva, Maria Ignez Paulilo
Velho Gilberto; Duarte, Luiz Fernando (Orgs.). Gerações, família, sexualidade
Leandro Castro Oltramari
Amoros Celia. Mujeres e imaginarios de la globalización (reflexiones para una agenda
teórica global del feminismo)
María Antonia García de León Alvarez
Freire, Maria Martha de Luna. Mulheres, mães e médicos: discurso maternalista no
Brasil.
Rosimeri Moreira
CENTRO FEMINISTA DE ESTUDOS E ASSESSORIA. História da Maria do Céu na
terra
Soraya Fleischer
Lionço, Tatiana; Diniz, Débora (Orgs.). Homofobia & educação: um desafio ao silêncio
Viviane Teixeira Silveira, Carmen Rial
Colaboradoras/es
Coordenação Editorial
73
943
946
949
952
957
960
962
967
APPENDIX 4 – REF VOLUME 19, NUMERO 1 - 2011
Sumário
Coordenação Editorial
Editorial
Coordenação Editorial
Artigos
Multidões queer: notas para uma política dos “anormais”
Beatriz Preciado
Ética corporal y sexuación: plasticidad y fluidez en el sujeto del postfeminismo
Isabel Balza
As filhas de Eva: religião e relações de gênero na justiça medieval portuguesa
Edlene Oliveira Silva
Dos cuidados com o corpo feminino em reclames na Revista do Globo da década de
1930
Joana Carolina Schossler, Sílvio Marcus de Souza Correa
La política sexual y la segregación ocupacional en las sociedades pesqueras
Esmeralda Broullón Acuña
A escrita de si como prática de uma literatura menor: cartas de Anita Malfatti a Mário de
Andrade
Marilda Ionta
Entregas, adopciones y dilemas en el campo de organismos destinados a la infancia
Carla Villalta
Nota de Falecimento
Coordenação Editorial
Ensaio
Bravos novos mundos: uma leitura pós-colonialista sobre masculinidades ocidentais
Diego Santos Vieira de Jesus
Ponto de Vista
Heleieth Saffioti, uma pioneira dos estudos feministas no Brasil
Luzinete Simões Minella
Entrevista com Heleieth Saffioti
Juliana Cavilha Mendes, Simone Becker
Seção Temática
Ecofeminismo e ecologias queer: uma apresentação
Alice Gabriel
Paixões desnaturadas? Notas para uma ecologia queer1
Catriona Mortimer-Sandilands
Rumo ao ecofeminismo queer
Greta Claire Gaard
Tornando queer a educação ambiental
Constance Russel, Tema Sarick, Jackie Kennely
Contos de Camp Wilde: tornando queer a pesquisa em Educação Ambiental
Noel Gough, Annette Gough, Peter Appelbaum, Sophia Appelbaum, Mary Aswell Doll,
Warren Sellers
Ecopoeta queer? Uma análise de “Chitô [Tito]”, da poeta japonesa Hiromi Ito
Keitaro Morita
Resenhas
Hewllet, Sylvia Ann. Maternidade tardia: mulheres profissionais em busca de realização
74
7
11
21
35
53
73
91
103
124
125
141
143
167
175
197
225
239
265
plena
Justina Inês Sponchiado
Evaristo, Conceição. Poemas da recordação e outros movimentos
Anselmo Peres Alós
Preciado, Beatriz. Testo Yonqui
Patrícia Lessa
Aletta de Sylvas, Graciela. La aventura de escribir: la narrativa de Angélica Gorodischer
Norma Alloatti
Ostermann, Ana Cristina; Fontana, Beatriz. Linguagem, gênero, sexualidade: clássicos
traduzidos
Daniela Negraes Pinheiro Andrade
Mathias, Suzeley Kalil (Org.). Sob o signo de Atena: gênero na diplomacia e nas Forças
Armadas.
Rosimeri Moreira
Agenda
Coordenação Editorial
Colaboradoras/es
Coordenação Editorial
Normas Para Publicação
Coordenação Editorial
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288
291
294
296
301
305
310
APPENDIX 5 – REF VOLUME 19, NUMERO 2 - 2011
Sumário
Coordenação Editorial
Editorial
Coordenação Editorial
Artigos
Da Grécia a Cronenberg ou por que existem as mulheres
Ana Isabel Rodrigues de Sá Saraiva
Que se enteren. Cuerpo y sexualidad en el zoom social. Sobre XXY
Mariana Vieira Cherro
A costela de Adão: diferenças sexuais a partir de Lévinas
Carla Rodrigues
Ativismo artístico: engajamento político e questões de gênero na obra de Barbara Kruger
Lina Alves Arruda, Maria de Fátima Morethy Couto
Corpo, imagem e registro colonial no Corazón Sangrante de Astrid Hadad
Maurício de Bragança
Gênero, epistemologia e performatividade: estratégias pedagógicas de subversão
Anselmo Peres Alós
Ponto de Vista
Estereótipos de gênero nas cortes internacionais – um desafio à igualdade: entrevista com
Rebecca Cook
Debora Diniz
Dossiê
Dossiê Gênero e sexualidade no espaço escolar. Apresentação.
Cristiani Bereta da Silva, Paula Regina Costa Ribeiro
Escolas mistas, escolas normais: A coeducação e a feminização do magistério no século
XIX
June E. Hahner
Ser professora ser mulher: Um estudo sobre as concepções de gênero e sexualidade para
um grupo de alunas de padagogia
Ana Paula Costa, Paulo Rennes Marçal Ribeiro
Gênero na praática docente em educação física: “Meminas não gostam de suar. Meninos
são habilidosos ao jogar”?
Helena Altmann, Eliana Ayoub, Silvia Cristina Franco Amaral
Práticas Pedagógicas reprodutoras de desigualdades: A subrerepresentação de meninas
entre alunos superdotados
Ana Paula Poças Zambelli dos Reis, Candido Alberto da Costa Gomes
Sexualidade na sala de aula: Tecendo aprendizagens a partir de um artefato pedagógico
Benícia Oliveira da Silva, Paula Regina Costa Ribeiro
Juventude ciborge e a transgressão das fronteiras de gênero
Shirlei Rezende Sales, Marlucy Alves Paraíso
Na escola se aprende que a diferença faz a diferença
Berenice Bento
Um bocado de sexo, pouco giz, quase nada de apagador e muitas provas: Cenas escolares
envolvendo questões de gênero e sexualidade
Fernando Seffner
Analisis de textos literarios infantiles: Avanzando en la deconstruccion de codigos
patriarcales
76
319
329
351
371
389
403
421
451
463
467
475
491
503
521
535
549
561
Sylvia Contreras Salinas, Mónica Ramírez Pavelic
Era uma vez uma princesa e um principe...: Representações de gênero nas narrativas das
crianças
Constantina Xavier Filha
Crianças, gênero, e sexualidades: Realidade e fantasia possibilitando problematizações
Cláudia Maria Ribeiro
Resenhas
Menegat, Alzira Salete; Tedeschi, Losandro Antonio; Farias, Marisa de Fátima Lomba
de (Org.).Educação, relações de gênero e movimentos sociais: um diálogo necessário.
Ana Carolina Eiras Coelho Soares
Venezia, Mariolina. Mille anni che sto qui.
Andréia Guerini, Stella Rivello
Tornquist, Carmen Susana et al. Leituras de resistência: corpo, violência, poder.
Cintia Lima Crescêncio
Soares, Angélica. Transparências da memória: estórias de opressão. Diálogos com a
poesia brasileira contemporânea de autoria feminina.
Elódia Xavier
Henchoz, Caroline. O casal, o amor e o dinheiro: a construção conjugal das dimensões
econômicas da relação amorosa.
Jérôme Courduriès
Stevens, Cristina (Org.). Mulher e Literatura – 25 anos: raízes e rumos
Leila Assumpção Harris
Maio, Marcos Chor (Org.). Atitudes raciais de pretos e mulatos em São Paulo.
Mylene Mizrahi
Teixeira, Flavia do Bonsucesso. Vidas que desafiam corpos e sonhos: uma etnografia do
construir-se outro no gênero e na sexualidade.
Neil Franco
Homenagem
Maria Lúcia de Barros Mott: pesquisadora militante
Coordenação Editorial
Agenda
Coordenação Editorial
Colaboradoras/es
Coordenação Editorial
Normas Para Publicação
Coordenação Editorial
77
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591
605
615
618
620
622
623
625
628
631
634
637
641
APPENDIX 6 – REF VOLUME 19, NUMERO 3 - 2011
Sumário
Coordenação Editorial
Editorial
Coordenação Editorial
Artigos
O movimento feminista brasileiro na virada do século XX: reflexões sobre sujeitos
políticos na interface com as noções de democracia e autonomia
Karla Galvão Adrião, Maria Juracy Filgueiras Toneli, Sônia Weidner Maluf
Presente y futuro de la igualdad con perspectiva de género en el Marco de la UE tras la
Presidencia Española: un antes y un después del Plan de Trabajo 2006-2010
Belén Blázquez Vilaplana
Operárias no Cariri cearense: fábrica, família e violência doméstica
Iara Maria Araújo, Jacob Carlos Lima, Izabel Cristina Ferreira Borsoi
Educación y empleo: desigualdad de género en las regiones mexicanas. 2000-2005
Eva Aguayo, Nélida Lamelas
Migraciones y géneros. Formas de narrar los movimientos por parte de migrantes
bolivianos/as en Argentina
Ana Inés Mallimaci Barral
Teatro infantil, gênero e Direitos Humanos: um olhar crítico sobre as peças Felizardo e O
menino Teresa
Jorge Knijnik
¿Negocian las parejas su sexualidad? Significados asociados a la sexualidad y prácticas
de negociación sexual
Mariela Carmona
Biogenética e género na construção da intencionalidade da paternidade: o teste de DNA
nas investigações judiciais de paternidade
Helena Machado, Susana Silva, Susana Costa, Diana Miranda
Seção Temática
A construção dos corpos no esporte
Alexandre Fernandez Vaz
“Adiós soccer, here comes fútbol!”: transnacionalização de comunidades esportivas
mexicanas nos Estados Unidos2
Ingrid Kummels
Corporeidade, esporte e identidade masculina
Édison Luis Gastaldo, Adriana Andrade Braga
Lutadora, pesquisadora: lugares, deslocamentos e desafios em uma prática investigativa
Fabiana Cristina Turelli, Alexandre Fernandez Vaz
Superando barreiras e preconceitos: trajetórias, narrativas e memórias de atletas negras
Cláudia Maria de Farias
As mulheres no mundo equestre: forjando corporalidades e subjetividades ‘diferentes’
Miriam Adelman
O músculo estraga a mulher? A produção de feminilidades no fisiculturismo
Angelita Alice Jaeger, Silvana Vilodre Goellner
Competições esportivas mundiais LGBT: guetos sexualizados em escala global?
Wagner Xavier de Camargo, Carmen Silvia Moraes Rial
Resenhas
Monple, Lília Maria Clara Carrière. Ninguém matou Suhura: estórias que ilustram a
78
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683
705
733
751
777
801
823
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911
931
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977
história.
Anselmo Peres Alós
Almeida, Miguel Vale de.A chave do armário. Homossexualidade. Casamento. Família.
Daniel Kerry dos Santos
Stearns, Peter N. Tradução de Mirna Pinsky. História das relações de gênero.
Diogo da Silva Roiz
Gorz, André. Tradução de Celso Azzan Jr. Carta a D.: história de um amor.
Fernanda Azeredo de Moraes
Freixas, Laura. Ladrona de rosas: Clarice Lispector, una genialidad insoportable.
María Antonia García de León
Chabaud-Rychter, Danielle et al. (Org.). Sous les sciences sociales, le genre: relectures
critiques de Max Weber à Bruno Latour.
Naira Pinheiro dos Santos
Corossacz, Valeria Ribeiro. O corpo da Nação.
Raquel Souzas
Agenda
Coordenação Editorial
Colaboradoras/es
Coordenação Editorial
Normas Para Publicação
Coordenação Editorial
79
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1008
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1014
1018
1022
1025
1027
1029
1035
APPENDIX 7 – REF VOLUME 20, NUMERO 1 - 2012
Sumário
Coordenação Editorial
Editorial
Coordenação Editorial
Artigos
Mães “abandonantes”: fragmentos de uma história silenciada
Claudia Fonseca
Cidadania e feminismo no reconhecimento dos direitos humanos das mulheres
Jussara Reis Prá, Léa Epping
Reflexões sobre o processo histórico-discursivo do uso da legítima defesa da honra no
Brasil e a construção das mulheres
Margarita Danielle Ramos
La celebración del Año Internacional de la Mujer en Argentina (1975): acciones y
conflictos
Verónica Giordano
Do público e do privado: uma perspectiva de género sobre uma dicotomia moderna
Sofia Aboim
La influencia del género en las decisiones de los tribunales: del paternalismo judicial a
los papeles familiares
Andreia de Castro-Rodrigues, Ana Sacau
Feminismo negro: raça, identidade e saúde reprodutiva no Brasil (1975-1993)
Mariana Santos Damasco, Marcos Chor Maio, Simone Monteiro
“Minha mãe ficou amarga”: expectativas de performances de maternidade negociadas na
fala-em-interação
Mariléia Sell
Ley de matrimonio igualitario y aborto en Argentina: notas sobre una revolución
incompleta
Milagros Belgrano Rawson
Maternizando lo político: mujeres y género en el Movimiento Sindical de la Industria
Salmonera Chilena
Beatriz Eugenia Cid Aguayo
Cooperativismo: uma experiência feminina na arte de produzir conquistas
Michelle da Silva Lima
Novas práticas corporais no espaço doméstico: a domesticidade pop na revista Casa &
Jardim durante os anos 1970
Marinês Ribeiro dos Santos, Joana Maria Pedro, Carmen Rial
Revendo estereótipos: o papel dos homens no trabalho doméstico
Maria Cristina Aranha Bruschini, Arlene Martinez Ricoldi
In Memoriam
Maria Cristina Aranha Bruschini: uma trajetória brilhante
Luzinete Simões Minella
Ponto de Vista
Sobre a Marcha Mundial das Mulheres: entrevista com Nalu Faria
Carmen Susana Tornquist, Soraya Resende Fleischer
Resenhas
Adelman, Miriam et al. (Org). Mulheres, homens, olhares e cenas.
Ana Claudia Delfini Capistrano de Oliveira
80
3
7
13
33
53
75
95
119
133
153
173
189
209
233
259
289
291
313
Patai, Daphne. História oral, feminismo e política.
Caroline Jaques Cubas
Pelucio, Larissa. Abjeção e desejo: uma etnografia travesti sobre o modelo preventivo de
aids.
Elias Ferreira Veras
Thurler, Ana Liési. Em nome da mãe: o não reconhecimento paterno no Brasil.
Hilan Bensusan
Diaz-Benitez, María Elvira. Nas redes do sexo: os bastidores do pornô brasileiro.
Letícia Cardoso Barreto, Miriam Pillar Grossi
Heckert, Jamie;1 Cleminson, Richard.2 Anarchism & Sexuality: Ethics, Relationship and
Power.
Loreley Gomes Garcia
Dorlin, Elsa. La matrice de la race: généalogie sexuelle et coloniale de la nation
française.
Marta Magda Antunes Machado
GinzburgINZBURG, Natalia. Caro Michele.
Patricia Peterle
Weber, Florence. Trabalho fora do trabalho: uma etnografia das percepções.
Soraia Carolina de Mello
Agenda
Coordenação Editorial
81
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320
322
324
327
331
332
335
338
APPENDIX 8 – REF VOLUME 20, NUMERO 2 - 2012
Sumário
Coordenação Editorial
Editorial
Coordenação Editorial
Artigos
Entre vapores & vídeos pornôs: dissidências homo/eróticas na trama discursiva do
envelhecimento masculino
Fernando Altair Pocahy
Histórias de vida de mulheres HIV+ ativistas: mudanças e permanências
Flávia Fernandes de Carvalhaes, Fernando Silva Teixeira Filho
Representação política, representação de grupos e política de cotas: perspectivas e
contendas feministas
Teresa Sacchet
Noções de família em políticas de ‘inclusão social’ no Brasil contemporâneo
Dagmar Estermann Meyer, Carin Klein, Letícia Prezzi Fernandes
Ponto de Vista
As mulheres muçulmanas precisam realmente de salvação? Reflexões antropológicas
sobre o relativismo cultural e seus Outros
Lila Abu-Lughod
Sobre a conquista de direitos civis em Portugal: entrevista com Miguel Vale de Almeida
Silvia Maria Fávero Arend, Cintia Lima Crescêncio, Juliana Bez Kroeger, Rochelle
Cristina dos Santos
A Campanha Internacional de Ação pela Despatologização das Identidades Trans:
entrevista com a ativista Amets Suess
Berenice Bento
Dossiê
Vivências Trans: Desafios, dissidências e conformações
Berenice Bento, Larissa Pelúcio
Reflexões Teóricas, políticas e metodológicas sobre um morrer, virar e nascer travesti na
adolescência
Tiago Duque
‘Homens Trans’: Novos matizes na aquarela masculinidades?
Guilherme Almeida
Histórias que não tem era uma vez: 1 as (in)certezas da transexualidade
Flavia do Bonsucesso Teixeira
Poses, posses e cenários: As fotografias como narrativas da conquista da europa
Gilson Goulart Carrijo
Treanvestilidades nomades: A exploxão dos binarismos e a emergência queering
Wiliam Siqueira Peres
Proteção da autonomia reprodutiva dos transexuais
Heloisa Helena Barboza
Transitar para onde? Monstruosidade, (des)patologização, (in)segurança social e
identidades transgeneras
Jorge Leite Junior
Despatologização do genero: A politização das identidades abjetas
Berenice Bento, Larissa Pelúcio
Resenhas
82
347
351
357
377
399
433
451
471
481
485
489
513
501
525
539
549
559
569
Fontenelle, Paulo Henrique. Loki: Arnaldo Baptista.
Alessandro Zir
Borrillo, Daniel. Homofobia: história e crítica de um preconceito.
Daniela Márcia Caixeta Costa
Favero, Maria Helena. Psicologia do gênero: psicobiografia, sociocultura e
transformações.
Lylla Cysne Frota D’Abreu
Scott, Parry; Cordeiro, Rosineide; Menezes, Marilda (Org.). Gênero e geração em
contextos rurais.
Marie-Anne Stival Pereira, Leal Lozano
Agenda
Coordenação Editorial
Colaboradoras/es
Coordenação Editorial
83
583
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587
589
593
595
APPENDIX 9 – REF VOLUME 20, NUMERO 3 - 2012
Sumário
REF Revista Estudos Feministas
Editorial
REF Revista Estudos Feministas
Artigos
Genealogías feministas: sobre mujeres, revoluciones e Ilustración. Una mirada desde el
sur
Alejandra Ciriza Jofré
Gênero e deficiência: interseções e perspectivas
Anahi Guedes de Mello, Adriano Henrique Nuernberg
Aborto e democracia
Luis Felipe Miguel
Innovación en el lenguaje político con palabras de género implícito: a vueltas con las
críticas
Fernando Centenera Sánchez-Seco
(Des)construções do masculino e do feminino na relação de mulheres-mães com filhos e
filhas
Fabíola Langaro, Mériti de Souza
Pescadoras: subordinação de gênero e empoderamento
Maria Cristina Maneschy, Deis Siqueira, Maria Luzia Miranda Álvares
La transformación tecnológica del sector agropecuario en la provincia de Córdoba y sus
repercusiones sobre la mujer y la familia rural
Eugenia Perona
Entre aves, carnes e embalagens: divisão sexual e sentidos do trabalho em abatedouro
avícola
Laila Priscila Graf, Maria Chalfin Coutinho
Desocupación, trabajo doméstico y desigualdad: una mirada desde el uso del tiempo en
Rosario, Argentina
María Andrea Delfino
A tríplice jornada de mulheres pobres na universidade pública: trabalho doméstico,
trabalho remunerado e estudos
Rebeca Contrera Ávila, Écio Antônio Portes
Ponto de Vista
Feminismos e antirracismo: entraves e intersecções. Entrevista com Luiza Bairros,
ministra da Secretaria de Políticas de Promoção da Igualdade Racial (Seppir)
Sonia E. Alvarez
Artigos Temáticos
Textualidades literárias e seus sujeitos femininos
Tânia Regina Oliveira Ramos
Luzes femininas: a felicidade segundo Madame du Châtelet
Paulo Jonas de Lima Piva, Fabiana Tamizari
‘¿Qué quieren las mujeres?’ Ciudadanía femenina y escrituras de la intimidad en la
Argentina de inicios del siglo XX
Marina Becerra
Autobiografia e autorretrato: cores e dores de Carolina Maria de Jesus e de Frida Kahlo
Alessandra Matias Querido
A migrante e o xamã: agentes transculturadores em dois romances italianos
84
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607
613
635
657
673
695
713
739
761
785
809
833
851
853
869
881
contemporâneos
Ana Maria Chiarini
Memória e feminino em Simone de Beauvoir: o problema da recepção
Magda Guadalupe dos Santos
Escritura femenina y cruce de culturas: aplicaciones en la dramaturgia de Caryl Churchill
Amalia Ortiz de Zárate Fernández, Rodrigo Browne Sartori
Resenhas
Chaneton, July; Vacarezza, Nayla. La intemperie y lo intempestivo: experiencias del
aborto voluntario en el relato de mujeres e varones.
Cíntia Lima Crescêncio
Beauvallet, Scarlett. Histoire de la sexualité à l’époque moderne.
Leandro Castro Oltramari
Ferreira, Mary. Os bastidores da tribuna: mulher, política e poder no Maranhão.
Maria A. Chaves Jardim
Duarte, Eduardo de Assis (Org.). Coorganização com Maria Nazareth Soares Fonseca do
volume 4. Literatura e afrodescendência no Brasil: antologia crítica
Maria Aparecida Andrade Salgueiro
Rubin, Gayle. Deviations: A Gayle Rubin Reader
Marília Barbara F. Garcia Moschkovich
Bach, Ana María. Las voces de la experiencia: el viraje de la filosofía feminista.
Neiva Furlin
Arnfred, Signe. Sexuality and Gender Politics in Mozambique: Rethinking Gender in
Africa
Osmundo Pinho
Agenda
REF Revista Estudos Feministas
Colaboradoras/es
REF Revista Estudos Feministas
Errata
REF Revista Estudos Feministas
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634
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