Kiana Therrien-Tomas
DARE Project: Collaborating with the state: a double-edged sword? The Brazilian Women’s Movement under the Workers’ Party administrations
Program(s) of Study: Political Science
Project Supervisor: Simone Bohn
This experience hasÌýbeenÌýa great addition to my learning experience and professional development. It is anÌýhonourÌýto receive the Dean's AwardÌýforÌýResearch Excellence;ÌýI can nowÌý±è°ù´Ç³Ü»å±ô²âÌýstate that I have taken part in all stages of the research process and applyÌýthe knowledge gained fromÌýthis experience towards the completion of my undergraduate degree and myÌýendeavoursÌýin law school.Ìý
Project Description:
What happens to social movement’s actors when they cooperate closely with state actors over long periods of time? The goal of this research project is to study the case of the women’s movement in Brazil, which from 2003 to 2016 developed a process of intense collaboration with the federal government under the Workers’ Party (or PT, in Portuguese), both in terms of the approval of several items of the feminist agenda as well as of their practical implementation. The arrival of the Workers’ Party in central government in 2003, under the leadership of President Lula da Silva, unarguably inaugurated a new era when it comes to the pattern of state-civil society actors in Brazil. Never before in the history of this country were social movements as close to the epicenter of political power. They entered the state, transferred their knowledge and expertise, and helped crafted prize-worthy, highly innovative public policies to extend citizenship rights to marginalized social sectors. Nevertheless, what effects did that collaboration have on their identity as civil-society agents? Was there a relative loss of autonomy, and a decrease in their ability of being agents of critical social change? Or did the collaboration further empower them in their struggle for gender justice? Using mixed-methods approaches, which combine qualitative interviews with the analysis of archival data, this project seeks to uncover the objective conditions around the ties between women’s movement actors (particularly when it comes to funding patterns) and the federal government, as well as how these activists perceive themselves in that pattern of state-civil society relationship in Brazil.The Dean’s Award for Research Excellence (DARE) - Undergraduate enables our students to meaningfully engage in research projects supervised by LA&PS faculty members. Find out more about DARE.