Brazil Unfiltered

In this episode of Brazil Unfiltered, James N. Green explores the political trajectory of former Brazilian president and current leading presidential candidate for the 2022 election, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The final portion of this episode includes a Brazilian News Update, which begins at 29:58 If you are able to, please support us at https://www.patreon.com/brazilunfiltered and help us to continue to produce regular in-depth analysis of the social, cultural, and political situation in Brazil.Music licensed under: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Brazil Unfiltered is produced by Camarada Productions

In this episode of Brazil Unfiltered, James N. Green describes the political situation in Brazil one year prior to the presidential election. Several of the main points covered are: a presentation of the current political landscape, the growing protest movement, and a discussion of the leading presidential candidates, including President Jair Bolsonaro, former-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as well as the search for an illustrious “third way” politician. If you are able to, please support us at https://www.patreon.com/brazilunfiltered and help us to continue to produce regular in-depth analysis of the social, cultural, and political situation in Brazil.Music licensed under: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Brazil Unfiltered is produced by Camarada Productions

On this episode of Brazil Unfiltered James continues his conversation with Ivo Herzog, the son of slain journalist and symbol of Brazilian democracy, Vladimir Herzog. Vladimir Herzog was murdered by the Brazilian military in 1975, and the protests surrounding his death marked a turning point in the fall of Brazil's military dictatorship. Ivo now leads the Vladimir Herzog Institute, an NGO that protects journalists, promotes human rights education, and advocates for democracy in Brazil. James and Ivo discuss the Institute's mission and creation, the importance of a free press to democracy, and how the Institute continues the Herzog family legacy. If you haven't listened to the first part of this conversation yet, you can do so here: [https://soundcloud.com/brazilunfiltered/fighting-for-democracy-and-making-meaning-from-tragedy]You can watch Ivo’s talk from his recent visit to the Watson Institute here: [www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfvvN8ZEE…&feature=youtu.be]

In Brazil, the name Vladamir Herzog is iconic. Herzog was a journalist who, in 1975, was tortured and killed by members of the military. Officials staged his death to make it look like a suicide. When this cover-up was exposed, ordinary citizens took to the streets; many would argue that the protests surrounding his death marked the beginning of the end of Brazil’s military dictatorship. On this episode of Brazil Unfiltered: Part One in a two-part series on the Herzog family’s history and legacy. James Green speaks with Vladimir Herzog’s son, Ivo, about his father's life, death, and work. Ivo now leads the Vladimir Herzog Institute, an NGO that protects journalists, promotes human rights education, and documents attacks to democracy in present day Brazil.You can watch Ivo’s talk from his recent visit to the Watson Institute here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfvvN8ZEEXM&feature=youtu.be]

On this episode, Jim and Brazil Unfiltered’s new co-host Marina Adams have a fascinating conversation with Geri Augusto, Associate Professor of International & Public Affairs and Africana Studies at Brown. They talk about what drew Geri to studying and working in Brazil, some of her most fruitful partnership with scholars and activists in the country, and how we should reimagine our study of Brazil for the 21st century.

On this episode James talks with Erica Lorraine Williams, Assistant Professor at Spelman College and author of 'Sex Tourism in Bahia: Ambiguous Entanglements.' They discuss Erica’s book, which explores how Brazil’s sex tourism industry affects Afro-Brazilian women’s lives in the Brazilian state of Bahia. They also look more broadly at how Afro-Brazilian women have been impacted by the election of president Jair Balsanaro, and the ways they have organized to resist this current regime.You can learn more about Erica's book here: [https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/67nsg8gz9780252037931.html]

December 2019 marks the one-year anniversary of the founding of the US Network for Democracy in Brazil, a grassroots organization dedicated to fighting for Brazil’s democracy from outside its borders. On this episode of Brazil Unfiltered, Jim (who co-founded the organization) talks with the Network's National Organizer, Marina Adams. They discuss the growth and evolution of the network over the last year, and their plans going forward. They also discuss the power of forming a diverse, international coalition, and the unique opportunities that arise when scholars and activists collaborate.For more information about the Network, follow them on Facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/democracybrazil/]

From the corruption scandal known as ‘Operation Car Wash’ to Bolsonaro’s clashes with the Supreme Court, today Brazil’s judiciary is at the center of the nation’s political and social struggles. On this episode, James Green talks with someone uniquely qualified on the subject: former Attorney General Luís Inácio Adams. In addition to the process and politics of ‘Operation Car Wash’ and Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment, Luís and James look at how the courts stand as a check against some of President Bolsonaro’s most conservative tendencies, and how the country’s political landscape could change in the coming years.To see Luís Inácio Adam's lecture during his visit to the Watson institute, follow this link: [https://watson.brown.edu/brazil/events/2019/luis-cio-adams-challenges-brazilian-constitution-our-democracy-jeopardy]

Leila Lehnen is the Chair of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Brown University. Her work uses literature to explore Brazilian society, culture, and history. As she she sees it, literature doesn’t just reflect a country's culture and politics -- it shapes it, too. On this episode of Brazil Unfiltered, Jim and Leila discuss what her work has taught her about contemporary Brazil, and how literature can help us expand our imagination of the politically possible. They also discuss politics in Brazil today, and the changing attitudes towards President Bolsonaro. To learn more about Leila Lehnen's book 'Citizenship and Crisis in Contmeporary Brazil', follow this link: [https://www.amazon.com/Citizenship-Crisis-Contemporary-Brazilian-Literature/dp/1349447218/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=]

On this episode of Brazil Unfiltered, James Green talks with Vera Paiva, a Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Sao Paulo. Vera is an expert on the ways societies deal with collective trauma, and how it affects everything from politics to public health. Her interest in the work is also personal; her father was a politician and activist who abducted, killed, and disappeared by the military when Vera was 16. James and Vera talk about her upbringing, her work combating the spread of AIDS and HIV, and how to get out from under the shadow of a military dictatorship.

Some of the strongest opposition to Jair Bolsonaro has come from students and educators in Brazil, so it’s no surprise that Bolsonaro has framed Brazil’s education system as a threat to the country. For this last episode of the first season of Brazil Unfiltered, James Green talks with Sidney Chalhoub, Professor of History and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and a former professor at the State University of Campinas in Brazil. They discuss how Brazil’s education system operates, and how it’s suffered in the last few years. They also explore how Brazil’s universities might fight back against the administration’s attacks -- and what’s at stake if they don’t.

On this episode: a deep dive into Brazil’s national and electoral politics. To do that, Jim Green talked with George Avelino, a Professor of Political Science at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo, and director of the Center for Politics and Economics in the Public Sector.

Leah VanWey is a sociologist and expert on the effects of deforestation in Brazil [https://www.brown.edu/academics/sociology/people/leah-vanwey]. On this episode she and Jim Green explore the history, politics, and science of Brazil’s forests. Because how they're managed will affect not just Brazil's economy and environment, but the world's.

Debora Diniz is an anthropologist, activist, and former University of Brasilia law professor. Her life was utterly transformed last year, when she helped bring a case to Brazil’s Supreme Court to decriminalize abortion. Death threats were made against her. She received police protection, and went into hiding prior to the case’s final hearings. Today she’s living in exile in the US. On this episode Debora and James talk about life in exile, how to combine scholarship with activism, and how to navigate the 'local flavors' of authoritarianism we're seeing around the world today.

On this episode of Brazil Unfiltered James Green talks with Ben Cowan, Associate Professor of History at UC San Diego and a leading expert on the history of Brazil’s military dictatorship. His 2016 book ‘Securing Sex: Morality and Repression in the Making of Cold War Brazil,’ looks at how cultural shifts in the 60s, 70s, and 80s -- especially changing attitudes towards sexuality and gender -- were held up by the dictatorship as dangers to the country. Green and Cowan discuss how this paranoia continues today on the far right, where everything from gender equality to gay rights is viewed as an existential political threat.

On December 1, 2018, a group of activists and scholars met in New York to talk about the political crisis in Brazil. What came out of that meeting was the creation of US Network for Democracy in Brazil. James Green is currently serving as the National Coordinator of the Network, and on this episode of Brazil Unfiltered he talked with colleague Merina Adams, the Network’s National Organizer. They discuss what spurred the creation of the US Network for Democracy in Brazil, how it has grown since December, and how they plan to make social progress in Brazil a priority here in the US.

It's impossible to understand contemporary Brazil without understanding life in the country's poorest and most marginalized communities. Watson Postdoctoral Fellow Nick Barnes lived in one such community -- a favela in Rio de Janeiro -- from 2012 to 2015. On this episode of Brazil Unfiltered, host James Green talks with Nick about life in Rio’s favelas: how they’re governed, how they were transformed by the World Cup and Olympics, and what the current political climate means for their future.If you're in the Providence area be sure to visit 'Maré de Dentro: Race, Gender, and Life amid the Militarization of Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas,' an art exhibit on view at The Watson Institute through May 3. More information here: https://watson.brown.edu/events/2019/art-watson-presents-mar-de-dentro-race-gender-and-life-amid-militarization-rio-de

March 14 marked the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Marielle Franco, a politician and activist in Rio de Janeiro. Her assassination shook the city -- and the country. On this episode of Brazil Unfiltered, a new podcast from the Watson Institute at Brown University, host James Green [https://watson.brown.edu/people/faculty-fellows/green] talked with Keisha-Khan Perry, an Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University [https://vivo.brown.edu/display/kyperry] and author of 'Black Women against the Land Grab,' [https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/black-women-against-the-land-grab] about Franco’s life and work, and about how her assassination fits into a bigger story about Brazil’s shifting politics. They also looked at what Franco’s story can teach us about our political struggles back in the US.To listen to the Watson Institutes other podcasts click here: [https://soundcloud.com/watsoninstitute/sets]