Citizen participation, COVID-19, and democratisation in Brazil

Featuring the work of 5 researchers, this panel explores the social, political, and health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Panelists demonstrate the intertwined crises of governance that the pandemic has brought to light in Brazil, and the implications for democratisation and civic participation. 

Simultaneous English-Portuguese / Portuguese-English translation will be available to Zoom attendees during the event. 

About the panel

Felipe Szabzon, Co-Author of Imagining a better collective future during the COVID-19 pandemic in the São Paulo periferia”.

Researcher at the Center for Health, Citizenship and Development of the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP) and Research Assistant at the Institute of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (IoP - FMUSP).

Vera Schattan Ruas Pereira Coelho, Co-Author of Imagining a better collective future during the COVID-19 pandemic in the São Paulo periferia”.

Coordinator of the Center for Health, Citizenship and Development of the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP), an associate researcher at the Center for Metropolitan Studies (CEM) and professor at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC).

Gizele Martins, Author of Covid-19 in the favelas.

Journalist and grassroots communications expert working in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Author of the book: Militarization and Censorship. Member of the favela movements of Rio de Janeiro and one of the founders of the Frente de Mobilização da Maré, Mobilization Front against Covid-19 in the Maré.

Dominique Behague, Co-Author of Mutual aid and pandemic politics in Brazil.

Department of Medicine, Health and Society, Vanderbilt University (USA); Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, Kings College London (UK).

Francisco Ortega, Co-Author of Mutual aid and pandemic politics in Brazil.

Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA); Medical Anthropology Research Center (MARC), Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain).

Chaired by Sarah Esther Maslin

Journalist for The Economist in São Paulo, Brazil. Sarah Maslin has written four cover stories for The Economist, including one about the election that brought Jair Bolsonaro to power, another about deforestation in the Amazon and a special report in June 2021 about Brazil's disastrous past decade. Her reporting has also appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The Nation, VICE Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review and other publications. She is the recipient of an American Society of Magazine Editors NEXT Award, a MHP Gold Award for Foreign Reporting, a Mirror Award for media reporting, a Norman Mailer Writing Award, a Carey Logan Non-Fiction Writing Residency, and a spot on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.