Academy as Potentiality in Brazil: Pindoba Group, Rosa Parks Collective and Their Performances of Resilience in the Context of COVID-19

Conference: The European Conference on Arts & Humanities (ECAH2022)
Title: Academy as Potentiality in Brazil: Pindoba Group, Rosa Parks Collective and Their Performances of Resilience in the Context of COVID-19
Stream: Knowledge
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Authors:
Carolina Piva, Federal University of Goiás, Brazil
Luciene Dias, Federal University of Goiás, Brazil
Ralyanara Freire, State University of Campinas, Brazil

Abstract:

There is a traditional assumption that ‘performances of universality’ instrumentalise higher education researchers towards a set of ‘authorised knowledge’ where social-neutral epistemologies, couched in a language of objectivity and impersonality, remain the ones worthy of adoption, publication and publicity. As a counter-hegemonic perspective, two groups of researchers on Race, Gender, Sexualities and Other Social Markers of Differences from the Federal University of Goiás, in Central Brazil, have invested in new epistemologies and socio-educational practices based on ‘situated experiences’. In this respect, Pindoba Group’s and Rosa Parks Collective have pursued initiatives with a vision of empowering the academic practice through actions that involve negotiation and co-participation. These actions include reflecting and writing on local community issues, fostering practically engaged knowledge and studies within the framework of social solidarity, encouraging the implementation of affirmative action policies in the field of higher education, among others. The significance of these actions relates to the ‘performative nature of academy’, namely its socio-collaborative ‘potentiality’ to instil critique and provide resources that promote academic resilience. Through a qualitative analysis and anchored within the field of Cultural Performances, Anthropology and Communication, we examine the performances of resilience carried out by these two groups in the specific context of COVID-19 — from their social solidarity actions towards local communities to the instrumentalisation of their academic practice into a digital communication agenda to creatively and practically resist the social/educational impacts of the coronavirus crisis. These initiatives highlight their endeavour to keep responding academically to intersectional systemic oppressions intensified by the pandemic.

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