Stories less told. Behind-the-scenes of feminist narrative research in Brazil

Abstract

In the Global South, and more precisely in Brazil, scholars interested in the interplay between language and social life have long argued in support of an avowedly political research agenda. The urgency of such an approach has only been heightened by the more recent rise of Brazil’s extreme right — whose unabating force continues to unravel the hard-won rights of minority groups. In an environment where the very meaning of “progress” is hotly contested, researchers have further taken an “undisciplined” approach to proceedings, shoring up detailed microanalysis with methodological tools derived from across the humanities and social sciences in order to communicate the validity of their research to a wider audience. Given such a backdrop, this paper aims to reflect on the place of feminist research in contemporary Brazil, particularly that which centres on stories told by those less privileged by gendered norms. The examples we share suggest that foregrounding gender as an axis of analysis enables new readings of nuanced discursive phenomena to emerge as investigators gain increased feminist literacy during the research process. Nevertheless, such interpretations may still be a site for struggle, even within the academic community itself.

Keywords

• social movements
• narrative analysis
• meta narratives
• Brazil
• penitentiary system