What explains the engagement of low-income youth in media initiatives for political purposes in everyday life? This study is an ethnographic investigation of the trajectories in media activism – the uses of media (e.g. radio, newspapers, cameras, mobile phones, and internet) and practices of journalism for human rights and social justice – among young residents of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. The findings include thick descriptions of NGO-driven and citizen-led media initiatives. They also present a detailed analysis of the relationship between media education and the engagement in media activism. Moreover, the study formulates and applies a theoretical framework for the analysis of how interactions and structural factors relate to individual and collective actions in a context of classrelated constraints and neoliberal imperatives. This research results from four years (2011-2014) of fieldwork, including conversations, interviews, observations and participation in online and offline actions with young favela residents. Favelas are overpopulated and poor urban areas, which have historically suffered from discrimination, governmental neglect and a drug trade related to armed conflicts. The concept of favela media activism refers to individual and collective actions in, through and about media. These actions represent the enactment of citizenship in favelas. As part of their everyday struggles for human rights, favela residents engage with media and journalism to raise awareness about the consequences of social inequality, to mobilize actions against discrimination and injustices, and to generate public debates for changes in politics and society. The study addresses two research questions: (a) what characterizes favela media activism and (b) what explains the uses of media and the journalistic practices of young favela residents for acts of citizenship. These questions reflect the interrelated key objectives – an empirical and an epistemological – of this study. The empirical objective is to have a detailed understanding of media activist practices in the favelas. Considering that social inequality and the popularization of media are global phenomena, this knowledge may inform debates among scholars, civil society actors and grassroots activists about how (or whether) those specific experiences could suit as examples of (or models to) similar bottom-up initiatives in other social contexts. The epistemological objective is to develop in-depth approaches to media activism not only by focusing on media, but also on how structural elements (e.g. social class, neoliberal individualization) and interpersonal interactions relate to individual and collective processes of engagement – or trajectories – in media activism. The construction of this study followed grounded theory as a methodological orientation. The theoretical argumentation results from the constant reflection on empirical materials throughout the research process. The methods for data collection included a survey, participatory and non-participatory observations of online and offline actions, semi-structured interviews, conversations and document analysis. The study also presents longitudinal efforts to locate favela media activism in the history of political resistance of the poor in Brazil since the 19th century. The structure of this study reflects the stages of the research process. Chapter 1 consists of an evaluation of the status of research in the field of communication for development and social change. It is argued that scholars in this field can use interdisciplinarity to shift emphasis from organizations and technologies to people’s processes of civic engagement in media at the margins. Chapter 2 is an account of the decisions and dilemmas of activist scholarship in a postcolonial research process of an outsider in one’s own country. Chapter 3 contextualizes the study by focusing on different types of political struggles in favelas. It looks at collective action for housing rights, tactical reactions to violence, and symbolic and material reactions to discrimination. Chapter 4 draws on social movement research and democratic theory to provide a definition of the concept of favela media activism. Using two police crimes in favelas as empirical illustrations, the chapter shows how favela media activism consists of acts of enactment and contestation of citizenship. Chapter 5 presents debates about publics and counterpublics as a framework for a descriptive analysis of favela media activism in Rio de Janeiro. It reviews preceding movements for counterpublics formation in Brazil: the Abolitionist Movement (19th century), the Labour Movement (early 20th century) and the Anti-Dictatorship Movement (mid-20th century). It also describes two types and spaces for favela media activism today: community media and media collectives. Chapter 6 brings development studies and media education research as reference points for the analyses of the relationship between the media educational initiatives of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in favelas with the engagement of residents in media activism. Empirical materials for this chapter result primarily from conversations and interviews with NGO directors and favela residents involved in media activism. Chapter 7 proposes a theoretical approach to explore the nuances of social class and individualism, structure and agency in processes of engagement in favela media activism. It explains how interactions in different structural formations of everyday life in favelas – namely at home and with close friends (família), in favelas (favela), outside favelas (asfalto) and in educational environments (estudo) – are key aspects of the residents’ involvement in media activism. Chapter 8 consists of an application of the theoretical framework outlined in the previous chapter. It reflects on the trajectories of favela residents in media activism. It demonstrates how interactions with relatives and friends, neighbors, educational peers (school and NGOs), and outside favelas represent the acquisition of both schemas to cope (lessons to deal with everyday life hardships) and schemas to change (lessons for tactical actions for social change). Chapter 9, the concluding chapter, is a reflection about what was learned during the research process. It lists four key findings and six lessons for researchers to bear in mind when studying and contributing to bottom-up processes for social and political change. It also emphasizes the importance of keeping in mind issues of social inequality, political governance, and the political economy of print, broadcast and digital media even when studying small-scale individual and collective civic action.

Favela media activism. Political trajectories of low-income Brazilian youth

Does the Brazilian presidential system shape environmental policy there? The comparative literature on environmental policy offers few reasons to think that it might. Most explanations of variations in the quantity and quality of environmental regulation stress levels of economic development or move outside of the nation-state to examine international processes of diffusion and convergence. Other studies look at large macrostructural differences like the contrast between democratic and authoritarian systems and/or the role of non-state actors. This article examines environmental policies and outcomes in three successive presidential administrations in Brazil to develop hypotheses about whether institutional factors should gain a larger place in comparative studies of environmental policies and outcomes.

/pdf/tracking-presidents-and-policies-environmental-politics-from-4xrk8062wi.pdf

Tracking presidents and policies: environmental politics from Lula to Dilma

Analysis of the occurrence of microplastics in beach sand on the Brazilian coast.

Challenging extractivism: Activism over the aftermath of the Fundão disaster

In this article, we critically analyse emerging regulatory controls around the design and management of tailings facilities in the global mining industry. Following several high profile, catastrophic tailings facility failures, a Global Tailings Review (GTR) was established to develop a new industry Standard. We describe the precursors to the GTR and review the public disclosure requirements of 19 separate industry-endorsed standards and certification schemes. On several criteria, the GTR Standard requires unprecedented levels of public disclosure by mining companies. Does this amount to a ‘transparency turn’ in tailings management? We argue that while improved disclosure provisions may provide visibility for investors, regulators and other stakeholders, the socialisation of transparency norms is a highly complex, contingent and ultimately fragile endeavour. Using indicators relevant to achieving transparency, we demonstrate the contextual variability into which mining companies will be disclosing information. Our analysis highlights the sheer number of tailings facilities in locations with multi-dimensional complexity, including low levels of literacy and governance, with correspondingly high levels of inequality and corruption. We discuss these conditionalities in relation to the GTR Standard, and conclude by outlining future research priorities.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/bse.2613

Tailings facility failures in the global mining industry: Will a ‘transparency turn’ drive change?

The aim of this article is to characterize legal mobilization as a repertoire of social action in the Brazilian environmental field, analyzing how and why court action becomes a repertoire of collective action. The authors present data on the use of collective action, based on research using quantitative and qualitative methods. The main conclusions are that legal mobilization occurs through flows of interpersonal action between actors from government and civil society and that the perception of deficiency in representative and participatory institutional processes is an incentive for legal action. The authors further suggest that mobilization of legal institutions as a repertoire of collective action can generate a process of institutional critique.

/pdf/mobilizacao-do-direito-como-repertorio-de-acao-coletiva-e-2j33ldekxs.pdf

Mobilização do Direito como Repertório de Ação Coletiva e Crítica Institucional no Campo Ambiental Brasileiro

This paper analyzes the diversified set of forms of participation of civil society organizations within the environmental policy during the government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva between 2003 and 2008. It takes into account aspects of effectiveness of participation and the democratization of debates on environment. It is based in qualitative research, with documental sources and interviews. Conclusions show the existence of a highly organized civil society that makes use of multiple mechanisms of participation to reach most effectiveness. It suggests, also, that effectiveness as well as democratization are intimately linked to the existence of institutional warrants, without which it is very difficult to oppose to economic interests.

/pdf/participacao-da-sociedade-civil-na-politica-ambiental-do-49sm0e1dks.pdf

Participação da sociedade civil na política ambiental do Governo Lula

The Rio Doce mining disaster: Legal framing in the Brazilian justice system

This article presents the dynamics of collective action and the construction of claims of people affected by the rupture of a tailings dam of the Samarco mining company in Minas Gerais, Brazil in November, 2015. Our analysis focuses on affected people in Espirito Santo State and is based on interviews, observation, participant observation and a series of meetings with affected people during the year following November, 2015. We describe initial processes of mobilization which involve various actors and interactions marked by emotions and by the creation of affective bonds. We draw on a culturalist framework of social movement studies to understand the emotional mechanisms in play in the construction of collective action, in particular, claims for justice (Jasper 1997; Gamson 1992; Goodwin, Jasper and Polletta 2009; Johnston and Klandermans 1995). We conclude that emotions play fundamental roles in the process of mobilization. The manner in which the disaster on the Rio Doce was felt by activists constituted a critical emotional event.

/pdf/it-was-no-accident-the-place-of-emotions-in-the-mobilization-44p30yi6md.pdf

“it was no accident!” the place of emotions in the mobilization of people affected by the collapse of samarco's tailings dam in brazil

Os conflitos socioambientais relacionados a empreendimentos extrativos vem aumentando na America Latina, na medida em que ha, nessa regiao, um crescente incentivo a extracao e a exportacao de commodities . Nesse contexto, a acao coletiva de contestacao funda-se a partir de um enquadramento que marca uma condicao comum entre aqueles que sao afetados pela mineracao, pelo petroleo e por outros grandes empreendimentos extrativos. Isso abre um processo de contestacao especifico que reune certos atores, repertorios e reivindicacoes, os quais constituem dinâmicas de mobilizacao do direto, haja vista o uso contundente de estrategias legais e judiciais. Este artigo apresenta uma proposta de caracterizacao dos atores, dos repertorios e dos enquadramentos insurgentes da politica dos afetados pelo extrativismo na America Latina. Apresentamos uma explicacao fundamentada em aspectos macro, mas com enfase em elementos microssociologicos. A pesquisa levantou casos de variados paises, empregando uma abordagem qualitativa com analise de materiais documentais e observacao participante.  Palavras‐chave : movimentos sociais; ambientalismo; mobilizacao do direito; afetados; extrativismo; emocoes. Abstract The environmental conflicts related to extractive projects are increasing in Latin America as there is an increasing incentive to the extraction and exportation of commodities. In this context, the contentious actions are based on a frame that brands a common condition among those who are affected by mining, oil, and others extractive projects. It opens a specific contentious process that assembles certain actors, repertoires, and claims, which constitute a legal mobilization dynamic. This paper presents a characterization of the actors, repertoires and insurgents frames of mobilizations of people affected by extractive activities in Latin America. We are present an explanation based on macro aspects, but with emphasis on micro-sociological elements. The research raised cases of various countries, using a qualitative approach with analysis of documentary materials and participant observation. Keywords : social movements; environmental; legal mobilization; mining affected; extractivism; emotion.

/pdf/a-politica-dos-afetados-pelo-extrativismo-na-america-latina-3x7x2ms58i.pdf

Cristiana Losekann

Papers

Mobilização do Direito como Repertório de Ação Coletiva e Crítica Institucional no Campo Ambiental Brasileiro

Participação da sociedade civil na política ambiental do Governo Lula

The Rio Doce mining disaster: Legal framing in the Brazilian justice system

“it was no accident!” the place of emotions in the mobilization of people affected by the collapse of samarco's tailings dam in brazil

A política dos afetados pelo extrativismo na América Latina