The Latest Insurrection: Brazilian Right-Wing Populism & Its Implications

Following the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil, the world witnessed thousands of supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro rampaging through the National Congress, the Supreme Federal Court, and the presidential palace of one of the world’s largest Democracies to protest the presidential election results. Bolsonaro initially refused to concede defeat and sowed doubt about the integrity of Brazil’s electronic voting system, raising parallels to the events surrounding the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol after President Donald Trump lost his reelection bid.

Join Perry World House, the Center for Africana Studies, the Marginalized Populations Project, and the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies for a discussion on what these events mean for Brazil, the region, and the world—and the growing strength of right-wing extremist transnational mobilization behind election denialism. Will former president Bolsonaro and other key players be held accountable for inciting the riots? Do these riots represent the beginning or end of a political movement? How were the riots in Brazil inspired by the January 6, 2021 insurrection in the U.S? Could these riots contribute to creating a global far-right movement that’s opposed to democracy?

Mariana Felix de Quadros is a PhD student in the Political Science Department at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. She conducts research on international relations and political theory, specifically looking at intersectionality and inequality in class, race, and gender, and critical theory of international relations, and is currently working on her dissertation project examining the omission of race in the discipline of political science in Brazil.

John D. French is a Professor of History and African and African-American Studies at Duke University. Published in October 2020, his prize-winning biography entitled Lula and His Politics of Cunning: From Trade Unionism to the Brazilian Presidency has been the subject of numerous roundtables. Since September, French has toured six states to publicize the Brazilian edition that appeared on the eve of October 2022 presidential election. French’s other books include The Brazilian Workers ABC (1992), Drowning in Laws: Labor Law and Brazilian Political Culture (2004), and the coedited volume The Gendered Worlds of Latin American Women Workers (1997).

Michael G. Hanchard is the Gustave C. Kuemmerle Professor in the Africana Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania where he directs the Marginalized Populations Project. His research and teaching interests combine a specialization in comparative politics with an interest in contemporary political theory, encompassing themes of nationalism, racism, xenophobia and citizenship. His publications include Orpheus and Power: The Movimento Negro of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1945-1988 (Princeton, 1994), Racial Politics in Contemporary Brazil, editor, (Duke, 1999), Party/Politics: Horizons in Black Political Thought (Oxford, 2006) and most recently The Spectre of Race: How Discrimination Haunts Western Democracy (Princeton, 2018). The Spectre of Race received the Ralphe J. Bunche Award from the American Political Science Association in 2019 for the best book on ethnic and cultural pluralism and was named one of the Ten Best Books in 2018 by the Times Educational Supplement in London. Professor Hanchard received his PhD in Politics from Princeton University in 1991, an MA in International Relations from the New School for Social Research in 1985, and an AB in International Relations from Tufts University in 1981.

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Perry World House, 3803 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, United States