Maternal Rights Digital Activism and Intersectional Feminism

This article seeks to obtain a deepened understanding of the phenomenon of maternal rights digital activism, drawing from an analysis of Cientista Que Virou Mãe (CQVM or Scientist who became a mother, in Portuguese), a blog which became an independent media platform. By doing this, we hope to fill an important research gap as little is written on the relationships between motherhood, feminism and the media. Based on preliminary evidence, we also wish to suggest that the CQVM platform can be located within the context of digital activism, arguing that the latter has lots to benefit from incorporating the perspectives of intersectional feminism. In order to achieve this, our study has a netnographic inspiration, analyzing one particular event that was significant in the history of the CQVM platform as it echoed the voices of black mothers

Activism, Art-ivism and Digital Media to Reduce Marginalisation: Sharing Experiences and Lessons from Brazil, Kenya, Syria, and Costa Rica

This guide is part of the AHRC e-Voices: Redressing Marginality International Network(http://evoices.cemp.ac.uk). The project ran in 2018 and 219 and brought together a global network of academics and practitioners to explore the theme of marginalisation and how digital media can be used to support marginalised groups to make their voices heard within and beyond the borders of their communities and promote social inclusion. During 2018 a range of events were held in the UK, Brazil, Kenya, Syria and Costa Rica to explore and share strategies and modalities implemented by activists and development organisations to fight marginalisation. This guide focuses on four emblematic case studies: (i) media activism in Brazil and how favela residents use digital media to foster community engagement and active citizenship; (ii) art-ivism, the use of art to serve activism causes, and how Kenyan artists use digital tools to promote a dialogue around human rights and power structures; (iii) digital media for social good and how development organisations working with displaced populations in Syria use digital technologies to foster peace and reconciliation in the country; and (iv) digital media for active citizenship and how the state of Costa Rica is working with arts and technologies to promote inclusion and well-being among the youth. This guide has four chapters, one per country, structured as follows: the context, two emblematic experiences in which media and arts are used to fight social inequalities, and a series of lessons learnt and challenges

Working With Marginalised Communities: Let’s talk about ethics

As researchers, members of NGOs, activists, and artists, we often work with marginalised communities. But how can we tell stories and work with people without putting them at risk

Salada Sonora: O Que Dizem as Paisagens Sonoras e a Rádio de Poste Sobre Viver em Comunidade em um Bairro Popular de Salvador

Este capítulo consiste em um estudo etnográfico das experiências de escuta nas casas e ruas de Pau da Lima, uma favela ou “bairro popular” de Salvador2. Analisamos, assim, as paisagens sonoras do bairro, e como elas ecoam as tensões, disputas e acontecimentos cotidianos do bairro. Para citar Veit Erlmann, o ponto de partida é o reconhecimento que a etnografia “precisa de mais diálogo e de ouvidos atentos e sensíveis” para que seja possível obter um conhecimento cultural aprofundado, levando em consideração as maneiras pelas quais as pessoas se relacionam entre si e com seus ambientes através do sentido da audição e do uso de sons (p. 3, 2004). Além disso, destaco que pouca atenção tem sido dedicada à dimensão da escuta das rádios comunitárias e, especificamente aqui, das rádios de poste, considerando-as como elementos que não podem ser dissociados das paisagens sonoras que as cercam. Com base nessa observação, este capítulo visa integrar ideias e conceitos do campo teórico da cultura auditiva aos estudos de mídia comunitária, utilizando-se de conceitos como “paisagem sonora” (SCHAFER, 1994). Dessa forma, as rádios de poste passam a ser compreendidas como partes integrante de um conjunto de ritmos

A mediação de vídeos pelo YouTube: política conectiva na comunicação de um partido e de dois movimentos sociais

In 2018, the PSOL Party launched Sonia Guajajara (from APIB) and Guilherme Boulos (from MTST) as candidates for President and Vice-President. This decision fit into a strategy of “connective politics” in which the party engaged in a dialogue with these the movements’ causes, turning them into relatable personalised messages and incorporating them into the electoral campaign. In order to illustrate this, we chose one video from each of the social actors (PSOL, MTST, APIB) and used YouTube’s Data Tools to map out each video’s network of related videos. We hope to shed light on how You- Tube mediates political audiovisual content through its recommendation system

Black Women in Parliament and on Social Media: Link visibility as an Intersectional and Solidarity-Building Tool

This article tackles the multiple facets of visibility, ranging from invisibility, a lack of recognition in society, to hypervisibility, when bodies are hyper exposed for commodification or criminalisation purposes. We analyse the specific implications of achieving media visibility for one Black Brazilian woman in politics—Renata Souza –a Rio de Janeiro State Legislator. Souza’s campaign and mandate have drawn inspiration from the legacy of Marielle Franco, a Black lesbian favela-born city councilor and human rights advocate who was murdered in March 2018. Our theoretical framework consists of three strands of research: visibility studies, intersectional feminism, and intersectional work on technologies and surveillance. We draw from autoethnographic approaches with the use of fieldnotes, audio diaries, and interviews with members of Souza’s staff. We complement these with digital ethnographic observations of Souza’s and her allies’ social media profiles. We ask: If visibility is a goal for groups who are marginalised and silenced, what happens when they do achieve it? When does visibility help to protect black women? And when does visibility bring even greater vulnerability? In this article, we propose and define the concept of “link-visibility” as a process led by women of colour who need a high degree of social media publicness but are affected disproportionally from visibility-induced high levels of vulnerability. We argue that link-visibility represents an intersectional feminist approach as well as a tool for solidarity building, and that both— intersectionality and link-visibility—help bind oppressed realities in Brazil and elsewhere. Finally, we interrogate what can be done to protect women of colour online, stopping the violence, threats, and fear

South-to-South dialogues between Brazilian and Kenyan artivists: decolonial and intersectional feminist perspectives

In this article, we analyze experiences in which Brazilian and Kenyan artivists (artists who are activists) used animation to challenge colonial hierarchies that devalue Global Southern knowledges, histories, and stories. We draw from ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews, and artivists’ experiences in two animation workshops: (a) Portrait of Marielle, produced with Kenyan artivists in Nairobi; (b) Homage to Wangarĩ Maathai, produced with Brazilian artivists in Salvador. We ask: how can artivist creative practices be used as tools for global movement building, contesting the colonial legacy of fragmented relationships between Global South peoples? We evoke decolonial and standpoint intersectional feminist perspectives to propose an understanding of artivism that considers the specificities of Global South contexts, connecting it to two axes: (a) establishing dialogical spaces and (b) mobilizing memories and histories. Our understanding of South-to-South artivist dialogues results from the ways in which notions of “pluriversality,” “incompleteness” and “humility,” which stem from Latin American and African scholarship are intertwined. When marginalized groups exchange “situated knowledges” and express themselves through artivism from “intersectional standpoints” or “lugares de fala,” this can have a binding nature, creating transformative connections between Global South peoples

South-to-South dialogues between Brazilian and Kenyan artivists: decolonial and intersectional feminist perspectives

In this article, we analyze experiences in which Brazilian and Kenyan artivists (artists who are activists) used animation to challenge colonial hierarchies that devalue Global Southern knowledges, histories, and stories. We draw from ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews, and artivists’ experiences in two animation workshops: (a) Portrait of Marielle, produced with Kenyan artivists in Nairobi; (b) Homage to Wangarĩ Maathai, produced with Brazilian artivists in Salvador. We ask: how can artivist creative practices be used as tools for global movement building, contesting the colonial legacy of fragmented relationships between Global South peoples? We evoke decolonial and standpoint intersectional feminist perspectives to propose an understanding of artivism that considers the specificities of Global South contexts, connecting it to two axes: (a) establishing dialogical spaces and (b) mobilizing memories and histories. Our understanding of South-to-South artivist dialogues results from the ways in which notions of “pluriversality,” “incompleteness” and “humility,” which stem from Latin American and African scholarship are intertwined. When marginalized groups exchange “situated knowledges” and express themselves through artivism from “intersectional standpoints” or “lugares de fala,” this can have a binding nature, creating transformative connections between Global South peoples

Comunidade na Cidade: Mídias Comunitárias como Infraestruturas Comunicacionais Urbanas

Este artigo é construído em três etapas: a primeira é predominantemente conceitual e as outras duas são fundamentadas em pesquisa etnográfica (offline e online). Em um primeiro momento, discuto o conceito de “comunidade”, situando-o nos debates sobre mídia e cidade. Mesmo reconhecendo que as mídias digitais permitem que os cidadãos adotem dinâmicas de localidade mais fluidas, meu objetivo é demonstrar que as comunidades urbanas continuam ocupando um lugar de destaque nos debates sobre cidades mediadas. Em seguida, este estudo aborda o lugar que as práticas midiáticas ocupam na constituição de comunidades como as favelas, analisando um estudo de caso, o da escuta da rádio de poste em um bairro em Salvador. Finalmente, o artigo revela como ativistas de favelas no Rio de Janeiro utilizam as redes sociais como infraestruturas comunicacionais urbanas na Maré. O artigo analisa as maneiras como iniciativas comunitárias offline e online representam recursos simbólicos e materiais aplicados a vidas cotidianas estruturadas pela desigualdade

Comunicação no Facebook dos Governos Federal Brasileiro e Estadual Paulista: Mensagens e Realidades Contraditórias

This article explores the themes disseminated on the Facebook pages of the Brazilian federal and São Paulo state governments during the COVID-19 pandemic by means of netnographic observations and content analysis, emphasizing economic and health issues related to the pandemic at these two government levels. The article incorporates notions of “uncivil society” and “necropolitics,” analyzing how they manifest in a context of accelerated neoliberal reforms. Results show that the Federal Government focused on economic measures while offering little coverage of health issues such as prevention, counseling, and vaccination. Conversely, the São Paulo state prioritized posts on vaccination. Both were perceived as permanent campaign strategies rather than meeting citizens' needs