Feminist Gender Wars: the reception of the concept of gender in Brazil (1980s-1990s) and the global dynamics of production and circulation of knowledge (original) (raw)

2018, Feminist Gender Wars: the reception of the concept of gender in Brazil (1980s-1990s) and the global dynamics of production and circulation of knowledge

[Complete PhD thesis, in English] Nowadays, the word "gender" is easily understood and recognized in the fields of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). “Gender Studies” is frequently seen as a legitimate area of studies, and it is recognized for its specific objects and approach. But the process through which Gender became a largely spread and accepted concept (and, more than that, the dominant way of analyzing a specific dimension of social life) happened by the end of the 20th century. This thesis intends to contribute to a sociological approach to such phenomenon, articulating it with other social processes which interacted to produce it, in the intersection (or, rather, interstice) of the scientific and political fields. The goal is to contribute to a broader understanding of knowledge production and circulation, through the specific case of the concept of Gender, in the specific context of its reception in Brazil, during the specific time of the 1980s and 1990s. The Brazilian case forces us to look at the space of knowledge production as complex global system where power isn’t either equally, steadily or permanently distributed, once we’re dealing with a country in a non-dominant position in such system. The Bourdieusian concept of field has guided the research, for providing a non-deterministic and sufficiently complex approach while highlighting the systemic (relational and positional) aspect of the object. The core methodology used was the prosopographical approach of a group of 35 researchers identified as key agents in the reception of the concept of Gender in Brazil. The sources consisted mainly in already published books, papers and documents.