Another face of interaction: communication collectives from peripheries and the State

Abstract

This article sheds light on forms of collective action in urban peripheries that are rarely addressed in studies on participation in Brazil: the communication collectives. It proposes a history – and process based interpretation to understand who these actors are and why they criticize the interaction with the State. The research is based on content analysis and on an exhaustive thematic characterization of 14,315 posts on Twitter and Facebook pages of 8 collectives from four Brazilian regions, during the Covid-19 pandemic, collected from the social media platforms' APIs. The findings reveal the actors' perception that peripheries have long operated on the basis of "we for us" and disclose the differential and sometimes violent face of the State's interaction with peripheries.