They in us

They in Us is an attempt to put discourse analysis at the service of understanding the political catastrophe that befell Brazil in the 21st century.

Twenty-first-century Brazil experiences political antagonisms that cannot be named without automatically assuming a position—a position that necessarily involves the language used, and which has undergone major changes in the last twenty years or so. Idelber Avelar jokes that a Brazilian who hibernated in 1995 and woke up in 2010 would have no great difficulty reading the newspapers, even though he might be surprised by Lula's popularity (then around 80%) and the fact that the Olympics would be held in Brazil. But a very different story would unfold for the hypothetical time traveler who woke up six, eight, or ten years after the transition from Lula to Dilma in 2010.

"Them in Us" is a study of the intersection between the functioning of language and the political processes Brazil has experienced during this period, including the June 2013 protests, Operation Car Wash, and Bolsonarism. The book ranges from the hyperbole with which the Executive branch has portrayed the country to the lexicocide, the murder of words, suffered by Brazilian Portuguese this century. It analyzes the masking of antagonisms in the political system and the oxymorons with which the Lula pact managed them. It discusses the conversion of common nouns into proper names in the cases of June 2013 and Operation Car Wash, and concludes with an investigation of the historical, anthropological, and discursive roots of Bolsonarism in Brazilian society.

"I invite the reader to examine this book and welcome the contributions it may offer so that we may be able to move beyond mere and repetitive debate, opening ourselves up to free and productive debate" – excerpt from Marina Silva's blurb.