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Tracing Feminisms in Brazil 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 feminisms1 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
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