Presentation: Activisms, political engagements, and state bureaucracies: relational and conflictive dynamics

Abstract

This dossier brings together ethnographic works that analyze the intertwining between activisms and militancias and the formulation and management of public policies, mediated by state bureaucracies in the fields of justice and security. Thus, its purpose is to contribute to the understanding of the complex connections between activism, militancias and bureaucracies in demands for rights and conflict situations, and their impact on the actions of bureaucracies and public policy formulation. The articles cover diverse empirical fields, readings, and approaches that deepen the debate on local modes of institutional conflict management and forms of mobilization and organized collective action, which do not always take the form of a social movement. This perspective is particularly relevant because it allows us to examine the political action of social groups, local modes of “statehood”, and also to think about the ways in which moralities and universalizing discourses —such as human rights— are re-signifying, especially when considering the construction of contrasting perspectives. We believe this approach, which includes five articles presenting ethnographic data from Brazil (Ceará, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, and Sergipe) and Argentina (Buenos Aires) and examines processes of activism and mobilization that challenge, confront, and provoke different types of interventions from state bureaucracies, will contribute to the debate on the controversies between demands for rights and institutional forms of conflict management. We consider that these issues, when intertwined, are central to identifying and understanding local modes of political life, from a contemporary anthropological perspective.