Abstract
Based on the relationships between activists and institutional activists in Campinas, located in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, this article addresses the impacts of the intersection between the state and activism. Setting out from the native interpretations of local politics, as well as the trajectories of two institutional activists, I demonstrate how their self-identification as activists produces a classificatory struggle around what is comprehended as activism and state. This struggle reveals that while, from an analytical perspective, we need to overcome the dichotomy between state and social movements in order to understand the diverse subjects and institutions as components of a “discursive field of action,” these same subjects use the distinction between state and social movement to justify and interpret their activities within this field. The article is the result of research for a master’s degree conducted between 2013 and 2015 that combined participant-observation, document analysis and in-depth interviews.
Keywords
LGBT movement; LGBT movement in Campinas; institutional activism; social movements; State/movement intersection