The Space and Politics Laboratory (LEP), hosted by the Graduate Program in Urban Development (MDU) and the Center for Arts and Communication (CAC) of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), will hold the II International Colloquium on Society, Space and Politics between 4 and 7 December 2023, at UFPE’s Recife Campus. This year’s theme is ‘Between streets, networks and platforms: The place of communication in geopolitics in Latin America’.

In its second edition, the Colloquium is taking place under a new conjuncture: a new progressive government, diametrically opposed to its predecessor, occupies the presidency and the highest structures of the national executive. At the same time, the national congress has never contained so many representatives from the conservative right. This introduces a new logic of dispute for the power that these positions retain. Meanwhile, contemporary society, immersed in new forms of communication that impel the public to consume “more of the same”, is finally facing up to an important debate regarding internet transparency and the use of juridical-legal instruments to address the problem of fake news and, in particular, its impact on the political spectrum.

While SOPAPO I arose from the pressing need to discuss capitalism from the perspective of ultraliberalism and geopolitical arrangements producing a new international division of labor, the second edition focuses on recent discussions on the role of the public sphere in the construction of consent and the influence of ultraliberalism’s rise in the construction of narratives.

It should be noted that for the purposes of this Colloquium, the public sphere is understood beyond just the role of the media, to encompass spaces of collective organization, such as churches, political party meetings, etc. Due to the influence of churches in influencing the voting behavior of their followers in the 2018 and 2022 presidential elections, we are particularly interested in discussing their role in the construction of narratives and counter-narratives and how their presence is established in different territories.

The event is an opportunity to exchange knowledge generated in recent years and to disseminate research, analysis and collective manifestations that address geopolitical dynamics, the rejection of hegemonic policies and movements, and resistance in the territory. We therefore take the following as our guiding question for the second edition: how have narratives and counter-narratives been constructed in the face of a possible ultraliberal regime of accumulation?

Target audience: professors, students, scholars, researchers, professionals and practitioners in the fields of urban and regional planning, geography, sociology, anthropology, political science, social communication, law, economics and related areas.