Women, Politics, and Dictatorship in Brazil: Historiography and Academic Production (1990-2024)

historiografía y producción académica (1990-2024)

Abstract

This paper outlines a historiographical overview of academic studies on leftist female militancy during the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship, from 1990 to 2024. Based on the analysis of dissertations, theses, and articles, it observes how the field evolved from an initial phase of memory recovery and visibility of female militants in the 1990s and the first half of the following decade to more complex approaches that established gender as an analytical category from the late 2000s onward. The 2010s were marked by an exponential growth in research, driven by the political context and disputes over the memory of the dictatorship. In the 2020s, studies on political and gender-based violence have deepened, with greater use of official sources and a focus on intersectionality. The text also discusses the recurrence of methodologies and the influence of the political and social context on historiographical production, highlighting challenges and future perspectives.