The Bolsonarist Bloc: ethnographic notes on political performances and a parliamentary network in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies

Abstract

Abstract The article presents the first ethnographic notes from a research project on the performances of a group of parliamentarians in the Chamber of Deputies in the 2019-2023 legislature. As a starting point, I highlight a group of elected deputies associated with the universe of Bolsonarism. The latter is approached as a complex set of elements containing different ideas and whose main political reference is the figure of Jair Bolsonaro, though it also encompasses diverse elements from the so-called Brazilian “new right” and conservatism. I present two episodes to help situate this empirical universe. In the first, I assemble clues and traces from a complaint submitted to the Parliamentary Ethics and Decorum Council in order to analyse the formation of the Bolsonarist Bloc. The second episode centres on the debate surrounding a law bill on the Commission on Human Rights and Minorities. Setting out from these episodes, I analyse differences between the performances of Bolsonarist deputies and the parliamentary behaviour prevailing in the National Congress. I conclude the article by pointing to some analytical paths for the future development of this investigation.