Brazil Under Bolsonaro: Brasil Acima de Tudo, Deus Acima de Todos

Date: 

Tuesday, February 4, 2020, 12:00pm to 2:00pm

Location: 

CGIS South, S-250

Speaker: Amy Erica Smith, Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Professor and Associate Professor of Political Science, Iowa State University               

Moderator: Frances Hagopian, Jorge Paulo Lemann Senior Lecturer on Government

How have Brazilian society and politics changed in Jair Bolsonaro's first year in the presidency? In rhetoric and style, Bolsonaro has intensified culture war politics, setting his camp up for Manichean battles against perceived enemies who range from the LGBT community to "cultural Marxists." Yet groups ranging from center-rightists in Congress to agribusiness interests have constrained his pivot towards hard-right issues in the policy sphere. Nonetheless, we see alarming policy shifts in areas where Bolsonaro's culture warrior instincts align with business interests -- most notably, with respect to the Amazon.

Amy Erica Smith is an Associate Professor of Political Science, as well as a Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Professor at Iowa State University. In the 2019-2020 academic year, she holds two fellowships: a Luce/ACLS Fellowship in Journalism, Religion, and International Affairs; and a Wilson Center Fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Her research examines citizenship, democracy, and religion, with a primary regional focus on Latin America, and especially Brazil. Among her recent publications is Religion and Brazilian Democracy: Mobilizing the People of God (2019, Cambridge University Press).

The Tuesday Seminar Series is a bring your own brown bag lunch series. Please feel free to enjoy your lunch at the lecture, drinks will be provided.