Perceptions of justice and political skills in Nova Iguaçu, state of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Starting from the description of a public act, which is part of an ethnographic study I conducted in Nova Iguaçu from 2001 to 2005, this article describes and interprets some politics grammars that undergird collective actions and mobilizations by the of the Federation of Dwellers’ Associations (MAB) of Nova Iguaçu, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Those grammars allow us to understand how these actors’ perceptions of justice are related to the construction of a public claim. For this reason, mobilizing the cognitive and emotive tools adequate to each situation they are involved in represents one of the most essential skills for those actors. The adequate mobilization of tools makes their political participation to be “taken seriously” in the sense that their public claims are publicly recognized as priorities. Thus, the article analyzes in detail how these groups appeal to emotions at the moment of expressing their public claims. The continuous use of emotions as resources in their public claims over the past two decades points to a unique form of political involvement, a resource that is related to their difficulty of being heard in the public space.

Key words: social movements, public claim, recognition.