Status and Mobility in Welfare: Human Differentiation in Brazilian Social Programs for Poverty Alleviation (E06 (ehem.B04))

• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 442261292

This project investigates the dynamic interplay between status and mobility within Brazilian welfare programs aimed at poverty alleviation. Through ethnographic inquiry, it explores processes of categorization (self and other) among applicants, beneficiaries, and those denied assistance, as well as among intermediaries and decision-makers. The objective is to elucidate the status passages navigated within the framework of state-provided social aid. Furthermore, the study examines the categorization of various forms of spatial (im)mobility in the context of welfare relations, seeking to uncover how distinctions among differently privileged or disadvantaged individuals are constructed, negotiated, and contested.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1482: Studies in Human Differentiation
• Applicant Institution: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
• Project Head: Professorin Dr. Heike Drotbohm