Introduction to: A Meteoric Rise to Power? Ethnographic Insights on Brazil's Conservative Turn

From the street protests of 2013 to President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment and her replacement by Michel Temer, to the imprisonment of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the rise to power of former army captain Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's political landscape has shifted rapidly, confronted with realities considered unimaginable only a few years earlier. The ongoing political, social and economic crises in Brazil were the empirical context used as springboard for interdisciplinary discussion in the seminar titled ‘A horizon of (im)possibilities: reflecting on the social implications of recent political upheaval in Brazil’, which took place on 22 February 2019 at King's College London. The seminar was organised by Katerina Hatzikidi and co-hosted by the King's Brazil Institute and the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS), with the kind support of the Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS). Drawing on the notion of possibility and acknowledging that the 2018 presidential elections were but the outcome, or culmination, of a series of transformations that had been taking place over several years, the seminar invited researchers to consider and critically reflect upon current political events and their social implications. The three papers included here continue and deepen some of the conversations which started there. This Special Section, together with the edited volume A Horizon of (Im)possibilities: A Chronicle of Brazil's Conservative Turn, co-edited by Katerina Hatzikidi and Eduardo Dullo, forthcoming with ILAS/The University of London Press, are the two main publications resulting from the above mentioned seminar. Combining ethnography with cutting-edge theoretical reflections, the contributors to this Special Section delve into recent social, religious and political developments in Brazil. Each focusing on distinct case studies, they share a common interest in temporally and spatially contextualising and disentangling an intricate series of small- and large-scale events which preceded Bolsonaro's ascent to the presidency. The authors set out to unravel and comprehend some of the key social conditions in place, as well as their dynamic development over recent years, offering unique insights into the country's 2018 conservative turn. Analysing ethnographic data gathered in São Paulo street protests in light of Heredia and Palmeira's theory of the tempo da política (political season), and offering an historically informed analysis of Brazil's ‘authoritarian tradition’, Eduardo Dullo suggests that a protracted ‘political season’, which started with the countrywide demonstrations in 2013, destabilised and profoundly transformed the national political landscape and shifted the horizons of what was politically possible (or impossible). Drawing on Gregory Bateson's notion of schismogenesis, Dullo argues that with the expansion of the ‘political ritual’, not only did individuals begin to openly act in anti-pluralist ways, but they experienced a situation of ‘radical unpredictability’ which is likely to have long-term effects on Brazilian society. Dullo's suggestion is that in this unusual political temporality, a possible way out of the continuous escalation of polarisation was, for many, to resort to a state of exception, reiterating the country's authoritarian tradition. In his article, David Simbsler explores the temporalities of the ‘political season’ and ‘disruptions’ in the course of everyday life from a rural vantage point. Bringing astute ethnographic insights from Pentecostal families that form part of Landless Movement (MST) settlements in Pernambuco, Simbsler critically explores how ‘the national’ feeds into ‘the local’, and offers an original and compelling analysis of a lesser known aspect of evangelical political participation in contemporary Brazil. Placing morality at the centre of ongoing socio-political transformations, he moves beyond classic frames of analysis, such as patronage, to explore the complex and subtle relations between Pentecostalism and grassroots political activism, paying attention to acts of moral reciprocity and to a complex network of power relations. In doing so, his analysis challenges sharp dichotomies between ‘the ‘political’ and ‘the religious. Furthermore, it questions the notion of ‘popular bolsonarism’, broadly understood to be implemented by clientelistic strategies of Pentecostal churches, pointing instead towards the existence of ‘moral repertoires of subjectivation on a moving ground of multiple crises’. Finally, in the context of urban peripheries in Rio de Janeiro, Silvia Stefani explores the shortcomings of major social policies, such as the federal housing programme Minha Casa Minha Vida, and the effect these may have had on voting behaviour. Bringing vibrant ethnographic insights from Rio's favela residents who participated in the programme, her analysis traces the increasing mistrust, among clusters of the working class, of Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT, Workers' Party) which initiated the project. Limited participation in decision-making processes, increased socio-spatial segregation, forced removals in the context of wider urban transformations as Rio was preparing to host two mega-events, and an overall deterioration of living conditions were some of the main factors, Stefani argues, that turned working-class voters in Rio's urban peripheries away from the PT, and establishment politics at large, and towards a fringe candidate who successfully presented himself as ‘anti-system’. From the streets of São Paulo to a Landless Movement settlement in rural Pernambuco to Rio's favelas, this Special Section weaves together meticulous ethnographic analyses that unpack and dissect, in distinct ways, some of the intricate social, political and economic realities that paved the way for the 2018 national elections. Situating their analyses in a critical historical conjuncture, these articles affirm the invaluable role of ethnographic fieldwork in giving nuance to, and illuminating, even the most complex and contentious lived experiences. It is hoped that this Special Section will contribute to the ongoing debates on Brazil's recent political transformations, help readers better understand the historical moment of the 2018 presidential elections, and sketch a future horizon of possibilities.