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This paper aims to extend the Besag model, a widely used Bayesian spatial model in disease mapping, to a non-stationary spatial model for irregular lattice-type data. The goal is to improve the model's ability to capture complex spatial dependence patterns and increase interpretability. The proposed model uses multiple precision parameters, accounting for different intensities of spatial dependence in different sub-regions. We derive a joint penalized complexity prior to the flexible local precision parameters to prevent overfitting and ensure contraction to the stationary model at a user-defined rate. The proposed methodology can be used as a basis for the development of various other non-stationary effects over other domains such as time. An accompanying R package fbesag equips the reader with the necessary tools for immediate use and application. We illustrate the novelty of the proposal by modeling the risk of dengue in Brazil, where the stationary spatial assumption fails and interesting risk profiles are estimated when accounting for spatial non-stationary. Additionally, we model different causes of death in Brazil, where we use the new model to investigate the spatial stationarity of these causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peacekeepers are seen as a UN tool for promoting domestic changes in host countries, but little is known about the political consequences when officers return home. During the last 10 years, Brazilian presidents appointed a significant number of former peacekeepers to key political functions. How and why do former peacekeepers end up so involved in government affairs? To answer this question, this paper focuses on the array of skills acquired by peacekeepers in domestic missions and reinforced abroad. Drawing on a set of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to military, former political decision-makers, and researchers, as well as other primary and secondary sources, this paper details how political articulation, experience in conflict management, and prestige empowered Brazilian military officers to resume their tradition of intervention in politics. This paper also shows that peace operations can produce deleterious outcomes for troop-contributing countries in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to conduct a critical review of the academic works on railway history in Brazil. We read and analysed 492 theses and dissertations by graduate students in Brazil (published from 1974 to 2020). A qualitative and quantitative approach was used over time to characterise the increasing production of academic theses and dissertations on railway history in Brazil and which authors, bibliographies, archives, and historical sources have become essential for railway researchers. The results of this review indicate that several academic areas are interested in the theme and some authors have become references to the most varied railway studies. In recent decades, authors who research more specific subjects have gained greater visibility in graduation essays. The bibliography of their studies should be interpreted according to how sources change with time. Authors of the reviewed papers had to use alternatives to research railways due to archival issues and instability of access to documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates the extent to which imaginaries of climate and ecological breakdown attend to the memories, knowledges, and experiences of communities already impacted by histories of racism, colonialism, and poverty. Drawing on insights from Black studies and decolonial thinking, the article reflects on how the causes and effects of anthropogenic climate change can be mapped onto geographies of racialised violence and social dispossession. Specific emphasis is given to Rio de Janeiro, notably its port area, a geographical space where future-oriented narratives remain oblivious to the city's history of anti-Black violence and Indigenous genocide. In parallel, the paper looks at the recently built Museum of Tomorrow and its public representations of the Anthropocene. Overall, the article contends that pluralising accounts of the Anthropocene might offer alternative epistemic entry points for understanding and interrupting the mounting ecological catastrophe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent pandemic negatively affected the career development of women scientists drawing attention to the need for urgent actions to ensure that gains in gender equality in science are retained. In Brazil, women scientists contributed much to the fight against COVID-19 by supplying valuable information to the media, combating misinformation and looking for ways to reduce the impacts of the pandemic in homes and workplaces. This paper diagnoses inequalities of opportunities in science and emphasizes science communication as an important tool for increasing the visibility and empowerment of women scientists in Brazil. Science communication can strengthen the visibility, presence and voice of women in society and promote equitable practices in terms of gender and race. It can also enable women scientists to work as role models for the younger generations. This paper goes beyond a brief discussion on the impacts of science communication on increasing diversity and makes recommendations to accelerate gender and ethnic–racial equity within science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to present a comprehensive knowledge mapping of plastic pollution on coastal/marine tourism research. To achieve this objective, the present study employed a two-tier analysis, including a systematic review of literature and bibliometric analysis of 164 scholarly articles spanning 1999 to 2022. The results underline the multidisciplinary nature of this research domain, characterized by a significant upswing in publications. The dominant countries in this field are identified as Brazil, Australia, and the USA. A noteworthy collaboration dynamic between the Chinese Academy of Sciences, East China Normal University, and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences has emerged, signaling opportunities for enhanced cross-border cooperation. Jambeck, who provided data support for this research field, is found as the most cited author. Marine Pollution Bulletin, Environmental Pollution, and Science of the Total Environment are the most prolific journals discussing such topics. The primary research clusters in this field include seasonal comparison, Qinghai Lake, and small plastic debris. Additionally, scholars have recently focused on new topics such as seasonal comparison, case study, spatial pattern, and the Southern Baltic Sea in the last 3 years. This research also reports 10 articles with the highest citations and 10 highly cited papers. Not only this, the present study presents the inaugural bibliometric analysis on plastic pollution in coastal and marine tourism. To the authors' knowledge, it stands as a pioneering investigation of its nature, offering a comprehensive view on the research domain by evaluating a time span exceeding two decades, with a specific emphasis on the literature pertaining to marine tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, a growing number of studies have analyzed the social, spatial, and economic consequences of the sharp rise in corporate ownership of property assets. These studies have shown that financial(ized) rationalities, preferences, and techniques increasingly shape the investment behavior of corporate landlords, with notable effects in cities and regions. Less attention has been given, however, to the heterogeneity of actors that are bundled together under the umbrella of corporate landlords, as well as to the investment strategies these different actors pursue. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by analyzing the investment behavior of three corporate and financial investors in Brazil's commercial property markets: pension funds; listed property firms; and real estate investment trusts. Drawing on institutional and evolutionary approaches to economic geography, we build a typology of investor types in Brazil's commercial property markets which shows that the investment preferences of these actors are largely shaped by three key variables: their organizational rules and routines; their ownership structure; and differential access to financing. In addition, we show that these investment preferences translate into distinguishable patterns of property investment and influence broader property market dynamics by giving shape to an investment value chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article advocates the transgression of incumbent theoretical divisions between rural and urban abodes of production and draws on new analyses of contemporary spaces of capital and labour antagonisms in Brazil. It does so to articulate a broadening of the definition of class and class struggle towards an emancipatory praxis that does not necessarily prioritise industrialised workers. The study has a particular focus on the reconfiguration of socio-spatial arrangements linked to 21st century commodity cultivation, extraction and trade and subsequent class tensions on the material and epistemological frontier between (hydro, agro and mineral) mega projects and the autonomous territories of rural subjects. The renewed degradation of conditions for a labour force that has always been precarious, the dissolving dichotomy between proletarianised and peasant labour, and the ongoing resistance to corporate capture by communities is evoked to contrast distinct metabolic relations within rural territories with the objectification of labour and nature under capitalism. The analysis reveals new configurations of class domination, tension and counter movements. Many critical scholars, particularly those in the Global South, have been attentive to alternate readings of the world by indigenous, African descendent, peasant and agro-extractivist communities that may be unfamiliar yet underpin vociferous, and often fatal, resistance to capital accumulation. The task to effectively situate these struggles within a theory of broader, heterogeneous class struggle and integrate this 'wealth' of collective struggle and knowledge towards societal transformation remains important work in progress. In this spirit, the paper offers some possibilities for making new conceptual and material connections between rural and urban productive spaces and across currently fragmented class formations and identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Less than half of the original two million km2 of the Brazilian Savanna natural vegetation, called the Cerrado Biome, remains standing. Given its climate and socio-biodiversity importance, more effective public policies are needed to protect the remaining natural areas. In this paper, we present the methodology and results of the DETER Cerrado, an early warning deforestation system within the Cerrado region. The findings support that DETER is effective in detecting a wider range of deforestation patch sizes, from the larger patches, heavily associated with agricultural expansion, to the smaller areas (>1 ha <10 ha). Nevertheless, 80% of the deforestation is concentrated in the 10-km radius zone from the DETER Alerts. This area was later detected by the Cerrado Deforestation Monitoring Project (PRODES), the system that accounts for the annual deforestation rate assessment, which highlights the capability of the DETER system to provide support to the surveillance of deforestation in the Cerrado. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of 2020, the world was left in an unprecedented state of shock by the COVID-19 pandemic. Brazil quickly became the epicenter of new cases of contamination, where the propagation of the virus was unrestrained, despite boasting one of the strongest Universal health coverage systems in Latin America. This paper has at least three empirical contributions to the literature about economic resilience and the COVID-19 pandemic. Firstly it is a critical issue regarding the "economics versus life" trade-off, which is an essential question for developing countries, given that policymakers must decide between policies to reduce the number of COVID-19 infections without damaging the economy. Secondly, our findings suggest that the early adoption of isolation measures applied in 2020, such as the financial aid and the vaccination have been effective in controlling the effects of the pandemic, especially in vulnerable microregions. Furthermore, it was verified that the Emergency financial aid was a fundamental policy in minimizing the economic impacts of the pandemic and allowing people to practice social distancing, contributing positively to the Employment Resilience Index and negatively related to the growth rate of deaths due to COVID-19. The contribution of our study is to measure an inverted U-shaped curve to demonstrate that policymakers must achieve a minimum of families to decrease the COVID-19 deaths. These contributions are essential and straightforward findings to lead policymakers' decisions in developing countries facing financial constraints in the public budget and population reticence about physical distancing, self-quarantine and vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The level of colorism that developed among blacks in the United States (U.S.) and Brazil, during the 20th century, gave rise to intense altitudes of intraracial discrimination. This distinct form of discrimination was based on proximity to whiteness and white privilege. This essay will illustrate how attitudes toward complexion, within the black community, are a direct consequence and perpetual remnant of the white supremacy and racial hierarchy that developed in colonized societies. Colorism manifested itself in different forms in Brazil and in the U.S. However, the level of black-on-black discrimination that it spawned was grounded in the belief that one's immediacy to whiteness created a vehicle for upward mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the effectiveness of the Brazilian "Maria da Penha" Law—a law that imposed criminal sanctions on and promoted rehabilitation programs for known perpetrators of acts of domestic violence exclusively against women, issued restraining orders against perpetrators, required perpetrators to surrender firearms, and established police units uniquely trained to address violence against women. Using difference-in-difference analyses estimated with data on Brazilian monthly assault-related hospitalizations and with gender as treatment variable, we find that the law contributed to a 22% reduction in assault-related hospitalizations among women as compared with men. Our data is collected from the Brazilian public healthcare system named Sistema Único de Saúde, which provides public information on detailed records of hospitalizations in Brazil. We provide robustness checks of our analyses and examine heterogeneous effects of the law. With respect to the latter, we deduce that the effectiveness of the law in reducing assault-related hospitalizations among women was especially pronounced in municipalities where women are most vulnerable to domestic violence. We conclude with a discussion of our results, with an eye to policy implications and areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Football is one of the many fields where the display of orthodox masculinity, often related to sexism and homophobia, reaches its peak. Studies indicate that such behaviors negatively affect athletes who do not fit heteronormative standards and closeted gay players, who fear coming out due to an intimidating and toxic environment. Fans have been central to some empirical studies investigating homophobia in football; however, most research to date focuses on western countries. Through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper examines how Brazilian football fans see the presence of openly gay players on a men's team. One hundred and fifty comments were collected from thirteen online football forums. The results indicate similarities in the responses provided by Brazilian fans compared to western studies. Although fans' positive views towards the presence of openly gay players were expressed, homophobic opinions were also identified in this environment. Several fans also demonstrated no objection to the use of homophobic language. The present study is relevant to the existing literature as it aids in clarifying previous notions of homophobia in Brazilian football. At the same time, it problematizes and officially places Brazil on the map of studies on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the majority of Brazilian public schools, poverty and social injustice prevail. Most students come from disadvantaged realities, and their future seems to be already defined by a lack of social mobility, exclusion from civil rights, and violence—a situation that has worsened with the global pandemic. Rooted in ethnographic research in public schools in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, this paper explores the role of pedagogies of care in creating alternative, possible, and preferable narratives about the future of these students. By using the metaphor of "school as soil", the study identifies care in four dimensions: time, heterogeneity, mattering, and fertility. It draws on 12 semi-structured interviews with teachers from eight different public schools that were part of a larger doctoral project. By researching school as soil, we examine how pedagogies of care encourage teachers' speculation about preferable imaginaries for the future of their students. Results show that despite precarious resources and scarce institutional support, pedagogies of care appear in multiple reported situations, aiming to inspire learning processes, give voice and agency to the socially marginalized, and allow for ways of thinking that offer alternatives to the seemingly ubiquitous oppressive relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores China's increasing media engagement with Latin American partners. It examines the case of Mundo China (MC), a China-news segment broadcast by the Brazilian news channel BandNews TV and co-produced in partnership with CCTV. By conducting content analysis, we assess how China is presented, contrast the framing of China before and since the partnership agreement, and compare the televised image of China between BandNews TV and other news channels in Brazil. The findings show that MC has assisted in diversifying and balancing the ratio of positive frames in relation to the overall China-related reporting across the broadcasters sampled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does immigrant racialization look like in a context of legal inclusion? Although scholars have given notable attention to racialization in the face of illegality and exclusionary immigration regimes, less well understood are dimensions of racialization in inclusive legal contexts. Over the past decade, Brazil has experienced three major influxes of forcibly displaced people—from Haiti, Syria, and Venezuela. For each, Brazil radically expanded its asylum and immigration policies in their favor. At the same time, these groups have been disparately racialized in the public sphere. Using a content analysis of media coverage from 2010 to 2020, this paper examines the varied public racialization of Haitians, Syrians, and Venezuelans. Juxtaposing representations sheds light on the relationality of migrant racialization. It finds autonomy and capacity, belonging, and national ramification as key dimensions through which migrants are variably racialized. By interrogating these racial dimensions in the face of legal incorporation in Brazil, this study complicates the relationship between racialization, Othering, and legal status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elected officials routinely do not reflect the racial diversity of the citizenry. In Latin America, these descriptive gaps are particularly pronounced. A growing number of studies investigate the causes of racial disparities in representation, however, extant research largely focuses on national assemblies. In this paper, I extend this well-trod line of research to an understudied context, local elections. Using a dataset that covers mayoral elections in Brazil, I demonstrate that multiple factors hinder Afro-Brazilians, who comprise a majority of the Brazilian population, from winning public office. I show that barriers to candidate entry, resource disparities between white and Afro-Brazilian candidates, and race-based preferences among voters contribute to racial inequality in political representation. These results indicate that members of marginalized racial groups often must overcome multiple barriers to achieve electoral success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the current status of specialized headache care and research in Latin America. Background: Latin America corresponds to about 9% of the global population. There is considerably limited access to headache services, and very few resources are allocated to headache research in this region. Methods: The study consisted of two parts. First, in order to evaluate headache-related scientific output from Latin American countries we performed a 10-year bibliometric analysis and contrasted the results with a human developmental index–adjusted projection model. Secondly, we conducted a survey addressing different aspects of headache research, education, clinical practice, and awareness among members of the Latin American Headache Society. Results: During the last 10 years 70% of Latin American countries published less than three articles regarding headache disorders. This contrasts with an average expected publication rate of 889 scientific papers. Indeed, none of the countries fulfilled their human developmental index – adjusted projected scientific output, with Brazil being the closest reaching 84.1% of what would be considered optimal according to the model. From the 86 headache-dedicated professionals that responded to the survey, most (64%) reported not having a headache specialization programme of any kind available in their countries. The biggest impediments towards conducting research observed by participants were the lack of time (39%), resources (22%), and training (21%). Conclusions: Latin American countries have a considerable gap in headache-related scientific production, and also in formal education, research, and implementation of multidisciplinary services. Access to specialized headache care is particularly limited for patients with lower economic income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of how to generate development while preserving the environment is central to the history of the Brazilian Amazon. Many decades of top-down state interventions conceived and executed under a developmentalist framework have resulted in a socioenvironmental crisis. In response, the Sustainable Oil Palm Production Program (SPOPP) was launched in 2010. It promised to break with developmentalist visions and articulate environmental and sustainability concerns. This paper uses assemblage thinking to examine how these contrasting, often impossible-to-balance, views manifest within SPOPP implementation. We describe how non-human actors (trees, diseases, previous policies and agroecological zoning technologies) interact with human actors. However, powerful actors, in the state and beyond, continue to garner support for their developmentalist interests and thwart or depoliticize environmental and social concerns, thus limiting change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When, in 1822, Brazil declared its independence from Portugal, its vast territory was little known by the central government in Rio de Janeiro. There was a great need to create reliable maps that would delineate the new country's boundaries. This paper aims to show how a practical application of astronomy, specifically geodesy, was vital in the efforts to build the nation. We follow the professional life of an astronomer, Luis Cruls, director of the National Observatory, professor at the Military School and chief researcher of several expeditions, to discuss the strength of geodesic and cartographic activities in Brazil at the end of the 19th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International trade is one of the key spheres of economic policy. It is crucial for a country to understand the dynamics of its export markets to create a coherent strategy to improve its position in global markets. Research in this field is particularly interesting for both economists and policy makers. However, due to a lack of data, most of the well-established literature is focused on the national level. Therefore, there is little evidence on the influence of local characteristics on export markets. This research aims to evaluate the influence of regional factors on the competitiveness of firms in international markets, focussing on the importance of agglomeration economies and location, among other local factors. To identify this influence, this paper studies the case of Brazil. This country offers rich disaggregated information that allows this type of research and displays enormous differences across rural and urban areas. Given these differences, the assumption of homogeneous effects is too restrictive. Therefore, to study the patterns across different territories around the country, Geographically Weighted Generalized Linear Model (GWGLM) method is applied. The results indicate an interaction between location and the influence of several local characteristics such as human capital, the degree of development and the local economic structure. This relationship creates virtuous circles in a few locations where urban agglomerations create a suitable environment for firms, while opposite patterns appear in other locations. JEL codes: F14, R11 and R12 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses migrant welcoming strategies in the Brazilian public education system and offers critical reflection on the underlying concepts. We argue that the redemocratized Brazilian government provides centralizing, non-specific legal frameworks and policies tending to see vulnerable persons as a social problem; racial and economic biases place migrants from peripheral countries as part of this problem. The data collected to investigate this hypothesis were: (a) the 2019 Brazilian School Census; (b) an inquiry sent to the State Department of Education of all 27 Federative Units of Brazil; and (c) the official state government websites. Our analysis indicated that, in the absence of a federal education policy attentive to the specificities of contemporary migrants, the state governments undervalue migrants and disregard their cultural, economic, social and intellectual potential. The data also confirm that public policies have been slowly changing this outlook into an equitable appreciation of difference but still do not impact the education of migrants. Finally, the notion of Brazil as a welcoming country is challenged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How widespread is strategic voting in two-round electoral systems, and which types of voters are most likely to engage in such behavior? While runoff elections are common in presidential systems around the world, research on strategic voting in these settings remains limited. This paper explores four different types of strategic behavior that are possible in two-round systems, including some types, such as "strong-to-weak" strategic voting, which are not possible in single-shot elections. We use a nationwide survey to assess the incidence and correlates of strategic voting in Brazil's 2018 presidential election, where thirteen candidates competed in the first round. We find evidence of "weak-to-strong" strategic voting at a similar rate to that documented in single-round elections in other countries. We find little evidence of other types of strategic voting. Furthermore, we show that voters' confidence in their predictions of the likely electoral outcome and their ideological preferences strongly predict strategic voting. These results point to the importance of accounting for voter beliefs and attitudes in addition to objective voter characteristics to explain strategic voting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1970s, Brazil sought to establish State policies aimed at technological autonomy in the field of Informatics, resulting in the origin of a national industry of computers. This paper will explore another measure that has been little explored by historiography: the control over imports of data processing equipment. Our research intends to show the control exerted by the Commission for Coordination of Electronic Processing Activities (CAPRE) and to discuss how its technicians performed the analysis of user requests, resulting in decisions that either allowed or not the installation of the requested systems. When analysing computer purchase contracts and evaluating the intended uses for the imported systems, they defined the 'merit' of each order and sought to raise users' awareness on the problem of technological dependence. They reveal different discourses on the technological modernization ('efficient/lowercost' imported technologies versus 'self–determination/autonomy' views influencing society's perceptions on Informatics in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity and counter-disciplinarity are the hallmark of cultural studies and qualitative research, as scholars over the past three decades have discussed through extensive self-reflexive inquiry into their own unstable and ever-shifting methods (Denzin and Lincoln, 2018; Dicks et al., 2006: 78; Grossberg, 2010). Building on the interdisciplinary thought of Jacques Rancière and Caroline Levine on the one hand and traditions of participatory action research and activist anthropology on the other, we bring the methods conversation forward by shifting the focus from disciplines to forms and by making a case for aesthetic practice as qualitative research process. In this paper, the question of methods is approached through the action-based Cartonera Publishing Project with editoriales cartoneras in Latin America – community publishers who make low-cost books out of materials recovered from the street in the attempt to democratise and decolonise literary/artistic production – and specifically through our process-oriented, collaborative work with four cartonera publishers in Brazil and Mexico. Guided by the multiple forms of cartonera knowledge production, which are rooted not in academic research but rather in aesthetic practice and community relations, we offer an innovative 'trans-formal' methodological framework, which opens up new pathways for practitioners and researchers to work, think and act across social, cultural and aesthetic forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to review the research literature on aquatic exercise for health promotion using bibliometric methods and CiteSpace software. The number of studies related to this topic are constantly expanding, with the USA, Brazil, and Australia the centers of this research. Most published papers fall within Sports Science, but the disciplines of Physiology, Psychology, and Rehabilitation were also found to be dominant domains for this literature. The seven most prolific authors were from Brazil or Spain. The most frequently cited references focused on sub-topics of physiology, biochemistry, physical fitness, psychological health, cardiovascular disease, and joint disease. New research trends have shifted to the promotion of cardiovascular health in clinical populations (stroke, overweight, hypertension, endothelium dysfunctional, obese, inflammation, antioxidant, heart failure). Overall, this review found that research hot spots and trends in this realm have focused on improving cardiovascular health with aquatic exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex load and haul cycles in mining are composed of individual steps, whose times could be better described by a statistical distribution than by the average value. In order to evaluate how loading times and dumping times behave, this paper tested a large dataset of loading and dumping times measured at an open pit limestone mine in Brazil against the distributions most commonly used to model these variables, Log-normal and Normal; as well as Gamma, Logistic, Weibull and Exponential distributions. None of the tested distributions provided statistically significant adherence to the data, but it was possible to identify that for most equipment, Logistic and Normal distributions would produce less error on stochastic modelling then the other tested distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the Brazilian economy's rate of surplus value as well as its underlying determinants, i.e., wage rate and labor productivity between 1996 and 2016. In addition, it builds a theoretical narrative of the Brazilian economy that integrates its political successions, highlighting the governments of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995–2002), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003–2010), Dilma Rousseff (2011–August 2016), and the parliamentary coup d'état (December 2015–August 2016). The findings are presented based on the classical political economy tradition, which sees capital-labor struggle as a key, albeit nonexclusive, condition that frames the economic, political, and ideological disputes of society. JEL Classification : B51, E25, N16 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper argues that the recent Brazilian crisis was related to a cyclical profit squeeze that took place between 2009 and 2014, following the long expansion that started in 2003. To do so, the cyclical trajectories of the output and the profit rate in the Brazilian economy for the period between 1996 and 2016 are examined by resorting to the framework established by Weisskopf (1979). The results indicate that profit squeezes are rare in the Brazilian economy, possibly due to the truncated character of the business cycles' expansions. However, a profit squeeze did take place in the last cycle, partly as a result of the commodities boom, which attenuated the foreign vulnerability of the economy and allowed for a longer than usual expansion. JEL classification: B50, B51,E32 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the aesthetic trajectory of Abdias Nascimento in the context of his life's work, arguing that he has to be apprehended as a Quilombola warrior figure, through his entwinement of political and artistic agency. More specifically, it explores how Nascimento harnesses the creative matrix found in the lived history, myth and figuration from candomblé as a dramatist and as a painter. First, it delves into his creation of the Teatro Experimental do Negro (TEN), the first black theater in Brazil and his use of candomblé as a template of dramaturgy in his play, Sortilégio. However, the main analysis centers on his paintings, which combines candomblé symbology, along with other African cultural forms, to create culturally meaningful aesthetic forms that affirmed Afro-Brazilian subjectivity and their historical belonging in the nation and connection to the larger Africana world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the engagement of critical geographers from Northeastern Brazil with regional planning, aiming at transforming society by acting on their region's spaces. Extending and putting in relation literature on planning theory in the Global South and geographical scholarship on decoloniality, I explore new archives showing how the planning work that these geographers performed from 1957 to 1964 was an example of the 'South' re-elaborating and putting into practice notions arising from 'international' literature, such as that of 'active geography', and pioneering critical uses of instruments, such as mappings and statistics, that have often been associated with technocracy and political conservatism. Connected with peasants' struggles and with a theoretical framework that is cognisant of the colonial histories and insurgent Black and indigenous traditions in the Northeast, these geographers' works show that there is no 'Southern Theory' without a concrete engagement of scholars with social and political problems, one which is not limited to 'participation', but aims at challenging the political powers in place. Although not devoid of contradictions that are analysed here, the experiences of these Southern geographers acting in and for the South can provide precious insights into current (Northern or Southern) scholarly programmes aimed at resisting oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]