Política identitária e direito: um panorama feminista

Abstract

The term identity politics has gained some notoriety in Brazil, especially in recent years. But at the same time that its uses expand, its criticisms increase: the expression identity politics seems to be mentioned, frequently, to demarcate theoretical and political divergences, although there is little consensus on its meanings. Faced with the expansion of uses and criticisms around this vocabulary, which are beginning to gain space in the Brazilian legal field, this dissertation seeks to provide an overview of identity politics. In order to formulate this overview, the work seeks to present the context of elaboration of the term, answering where, when and who formulated it, as well as discussing some of the main theoretical, political and legal contributions – and controversies – that surround the matter. It is important to highlight that the overview now presented is a feminist one, as it takes as a starting point for the analysis of identity politics, mostly, the production of feminist theories, which formulate important and mobilizing questions within and against identity politics. The investigation is divided into four chapters: in the First Chapter, identity politics is contextualized, emphasizing its emergence in the United States, from the 1970s on, within initiatives that placed gender, sexuality, race and class as interlocked and necessary elements to ground an effectively radical political practice. The emphasis on the personal experience of identity, taken as an assumption for political consciousness and coalition, as well as the purpose of making visible oppressions connected to socially inferior identity belongings are presented as defining criteria of identity politics. In the Second Chapter, the emphasis attributed to personal experience is observed through its impact on the production of knowledge, which leads to questioning the assumptions of neutrality, objectivity and universality within science and the legal field and to proposing new ways of looking at scientific thinking and the legal practice. In the Third Chapter, intersectionality, a method that emerged in the field of Law, is presented as a way of articulating more than one identity category at a time in theoretical and legal analyzes – a theory that has been used in several fields of knowledge and that has a profound connection with identity politics. In the Fourth Chapter, a question is posed to investigate whether identity differences are strategic legal foundations for the demands for justice of marginalized groups. Thus, the dilemmas arising from claims based on identity differences are put into question, shedding light on the negotiations involved in the rights discourse when granting specific protection to minority groups.