Rethinking the Informal and Criminal Economy from a Global Commodity Chain Perspective:China-Paraguay-Brazil

The criminalization of Chinese counterfeit goods in the global market calls for a fresh approach to understanding well‐established binary distinctions such as legal/illegal, licit/illicit, and formal/informal. Based on a multi‐sited ethnography in China, Paraguay and Brazil, I examine five commodity chains of two products – toys and watches – and their regulatory frameworks in terms of merchandise status, business formality, and international transaction legality. Certain merchandise produced in the formal economy has no legal definition a priori, but legal variability starts when goods leave the factory. A great interchangeability of a product's legal status existed along its chain according to governance structures, legal cultures, geographical domains, and power relations. These findings suggest that the illicit is a relational category and the so‐called criminal economy is not a segmented market, but part of a global process integrated with formality and marked by great legal variability within and between nations

From hope to hate:He rise of conservative subjectivity in brazil

This essay focuses on the voters of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro in Morro da Cruz, a low-income community in Porto Alegre. The transition from Lulism (2002–16) to Bolsonarism (2018–) was marked by the rise and fall of the economy and the collapse of the political system. Based on a ten-year longitudinal ethnography, we look at the effects of such major shifts at the national level on people’s individual self- and political subjectivity. We investigate how and why “new consumers”—those who accessed the finance system during the Workers’ Party (PT) Administration—came to support a far-right candidate. We argue that the inclusion of the poor into the market economy brought about individual empowerment and a sense of self-worth in the PT era—a process that was threatened by economic recession and unleashed an existential crisis, especially among men. Bolsonaro, as a male figure, and his campaign gave order to a changing world, resulting in a reconciliation of personhood and political belonging

The right to shine: Poverty, consumption and (de) politicization in neoliberal Brazil

This article discusses the political impacts on the poor’s subjectivity provoked by neoliberal policies such as inclusion through consumption in 21st century Brazil. From 2009 to 2014, we carried out ethnographic research with new consumers in a low-income neighbourhood – Morro da Cruz – in the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. We argue that consumption does not necessarily depoliticize human experience, as it is broadly assumed to have done in the scholarly literature on neoliberalism. In a society in which the poor has obtained goods through hierarchical and servile relationships, the possibility of buying things provides a micro sphere for recognition, though not in terms of classic collective action or even hidden subversion. Coupled with the momentum towards a national ‘economic emergence’, status goods became vehicles of an emergent subjectivity, which we conceptualize as ‘the right to shine’. The right to shine are subtle forms of class and racial self-worth, and individual and interpersonal empowerment that revealed interclass defiance.Within journal option online first. To check in 6 m for citing and date detail

A rua como estilo de vida: práticas cotidianas na ocupação do centro de Porto Alegre por camelôs

Este pesquisa é fruto de uma etnografia que teve início no ano de 1999, quando cursava o segundo semestre de Ciências Sociais e iniciava-me como pesquisadora de iniciação científica/FAPERGS no Projeto Banco de Imagens e Efeitos Visuais, PPGAS/UFRGS, coordenado pelas Profas. Dras. Cornelia Eckert e Ana Luiza Carvalho da Rocha. Durante esses três anos, desenvolvi esse estudo no âmbito da Antropologia Urbana e Visual e dentro das mais variadas disciplinas oferecidas pelo Curso de Ciências Sociais que exigiam trabalhos de campo e/ou monografias. O trabalho que segue tem por objetivo apresentar a ocupação social do Centro de Porto Alegre por vendedores de rua (camelôs). Na primeira parte segunda, faço uma reflexão metodológica acerca de meu trabalho de campo com o grupo estudado. Trata-se de uma análise das possibilidades e dos limites da investigação etnográfica no meio urbano, apreendida num processo de iniciação ao trabalho antropológico. A segunda consiste numa retomada histórica, analisando a emergência desse tipo de atividade comercial na cidade; bem como os grupos atuais que compõem o cenário urbano local. Por fim, na última parte, procuro narrar um pouco das práticas cotidianas e das condições de vida camelôs

Reaprendendo a ser chinês: o “processo civilizador” de um país em transformação

This article discusses the current changes in the Chinese society caused by the opening up of economy in the post-Mao era. It argues that, based on Nobert Elias’ work, China passes by its Civilization Process, since new practices and values are introduced from its insertion into globalization flows and into a capitalist market economy. Several spheres of the social life are affected, bringing deep consequences in the subjectivity of individuals. This will provoke a reinterpretation of cultural conceptions about the body and behavior, as well as an internal and external control process over them. The analyses are based on fieldwork carried out in China, Canton Province from 2006 to 2007.Neste artigo, discutem-se as transformações recentes da sociedade chinesa acarretadas pela abertura econômica da era pós-Mao. Argumenta-se, a la Nobert Elias, que a China vive o seu “processo civilizador” no momento em que novos valores e práticas são introduzidos a partir da sua inserção nos fluxos da globalização e em uma economia de mercado capitalista. Inúmeras esferas da vida social são afetadas, trazendo profundas conseqüências na subjetividade dos indivíduos, o que vai provocar uma ressignificação das concepções culturais acerca do corpo e do comportamento, bem como um processo de fiscalização interna e externa sobre os mesmos. A análise está baseada em trabalho de campo realizado na China, Província de Guangdong, entre 2006-2007. Palavras-chave: China. Processo civilizador. Corpo. Consumo

Why and how precarious workers support neo-illiberalism

This report on the convening “Beyond Neoliberalism and Neo-illiberalism: Economic Policies and Performance for Sustaining Democracy”, held on March 27th and 28th at The New School, features an informative and wide-ranging discussion on a number of basic questions on the relation between democracy and economy. The political backlash from neoliberalism has mainly been a retreat from democracy. Its main features are the decline in independence of the judiciary and the monetary authorities, suppression or control of the media, and of course direct manipulation of election rules for purposes of authoritarian control.University College DublinHorizon EuropeWenner-Gren Foundationcheck for published version during checkdate report - RO

Teaching Portfolio, Teaching Fellowship Preparation, University of Oxford

In the second half of the 20th century, the field of cultural and social Anthropology was profoundly influenced by postcolonial and postmodern critique, which challenged the power relations present both in fieldwork practice and in ethnographic writing. The result of this process was the development of a reflective discipline, from which scholars value intersubjectivity and become aware of their own historical and political positionality vis-a-vis the people of their studies (Clifford, 1988). Likewise, teaching practice is concomitantly an encounter of subjectivities and a power relation. It means that the reflection of an anthropologist should not be restricted to the fieldwork and writing, but extend to the classroom

Super-heróis manifestantes? Simbolismos da cultura pop performatizados em movimentos sociais

Popular demonstrations in recent years have been marked not only by the multiplicity of demands, morality of ideas and the influence of social networks on the mobilization of large numbers of people they have also brought a new profile of young protesters using playful strategies of humor and cultural performances which affirm their personal identity in the midst of their political acting. This study aims to analyze the influence of "pop culture" on these young people's identity and moral characters, as well as to demonstrate that their performances are not random, but loaded with symbolism.Las manifestaciones populares de los últimos años han estado marcadas no sólo por la multiplicidad de demandas, la moralidad de las ideas y la influencia de las redes sociales en la movilización de un gran número de personas, sino que también han traído un nuevo perfil de jóvenes manifestantes que utilizan estrategias lúdicas de humor y actuaciones culturales que afirman su identidad personal en medio de su actuación política. Este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar la influencia de la llamada cultura pop en las formaciones morales y de identidad de estos jóvenes, así como demostrar que sus actuaciones no son aleatorias, sino que están cargadas de simbolismo.As manifestações populares dos últimos anos foram marcadas não apenas pela multiplicidade de demandas, pela moralidade das ideias e pela influência das redes sociais na mobilização de um grande número de pessoas elas também trouxeram um novo perfil de jovens manifestantes que utilizam estratégias lúdicas de humor e performances culturais que afirmam sua identidade pessoal em meio a sua atuação política. O presente estudo pretende analisar a influência da chamada cultura pop nas formações identitárias e morais desses jovens, bem como demonstrar que suas performances não são aleatórias, mas sim carregadas de simbolismos