Black Women's Activism Against Police Violence in Belém, Brazilian Amazon Region

• In Event: Critical Criminology 2: Critical Approaches to Policing and Control

Abstract

The high levels of police violence against Black youth in the City of Belém in the Brazilian Amazon Region has led to the emergence of Black women’s movements confronting it. These activists, often the mothers of the victims, have created spaces for sharing their stories and pains while developing actions that resist the invisibilisation and normalisation of their sons’ deaths.
To examine these processes, an intersectional approach was adopted that examines gender, race, and class in the lived experience of fourteen Black women activists. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews and ethnography. Preliminary results from the research highlight how these women have transformed their grief into activism that confronts police violence but also transforms the lives of marginal communities through the creation of solidarity networks.
This study contributes to southern criminology by highlighting the co-construction of knowledge developed by Black women activists in Brazil thus expanding the geographical and epistemological horizons of western critical criminology.

Author

• Vitoria de Oliveira Monteiro, University of Essex