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Paper short abstract

Bolsonarism is rooted in Brazil’s Frontier. Its far-right imaginary is shaped by a pioneer ethos that links ecology, politics, and everyday life, giving rise to violent and exclusionary forms of citizenship.

Paper long abstract

In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro’s victory in the 2018 presidential election came as a surprise to the progressive left. It was interpreted either as a temporary anomaly, the result of public opinion manipulation by the mainstream media and economic elites, or as yet another manifestation of the global rise of “populisms.”

This paper takes a different approach, situating Bolsonarism within an ecological, political, and domestic configuration at the heart of Brazilian society: the Frontier. I argue that Bolsonarism revives a model of citizenship inherited from the pioneer frontiers: the white head of household who lives off the resources of his land, never ventures out without his rifle, ready to defend his property from the “Savages,” and who answers only to God. I further suggest that the growing intervention of the State, through social and environmental policies promoted by left-leaning governments, partly explains why Bolsonarism garnered support among people living in frontier regions.

This analysis draws on my own ethnography of urban frontiers, as well as other ethnographic studies of pioneer fronts in the Amazon, and on references to “freedom” (liberdade) in Bolsonaro’s public speeches. I engage with anthropology, history and geography to understand the Frontier as a way of inhabiting the world—a system of practical, affective, and symbolic relations with others, everyday territories (homes and land), and nature.

Finally, I suggest that this sociomaterial matrix has also shaped far-right imaginaries in Europe, opening a new dialogue between the anthropology of populism, decolonial studies, and the history of fascism.