2023-04-15 22:56:25
Brazilian state deputy Bella Gonçalves said this Saturday that she was sexually harassed by researcher Boaventura de Sousa Santos and that she denounced the case at the Center for Social Studies (CES), but that she was told that the teacher “was untouchable”.
The Minas Gerais state deputy, who had already given her report, albeit unidentified, to the newspaper Público, on Friday, decided to assume her identity in an interview with the Brazilian online portal Agência Pública, specialized in investigative journalism. .
Speaking to Lusa, the deputy from the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) recalled that, at the time of the harassment, in 2013, she sought out professors from the CES of the University of Coimbra.
“The general tone was that in fact he was untouchable, any denunciation could jeopardize my doctoral process. I had no way of putting my doctoral process at risk when I was receiving a grant”, he added, stressing that, if the doctorate was not completed, he would have to return the money to the Brazilian Government.
The deputy also said that she even denounced the harassment by Boaventura de Sousa Santos of the “coordinator of the course, who at the time was becoming director of CES, who was António Sousa Ribeiro”.
Asked whether she was aware of more cases of harassment, she replied that hers “was not an isolated case”.
In August 2013, aged 25, the now deputy of the second largest electoral college in Brazil began her doctorate in the Post-Colonialisms and Global Citizenship program at CES and deepened her working relationship with Professor Boaventura de Sousa Santos, her supervisor .
When scheduling one of the thesis supervision meetings, he asked if they would meet at the researcher’s office, to which, he reported, the professor replied that the meeting would be at the researcher’s house.
“It wasn’t an orientation meeting at all. He was over there trying to get close,” she explained.
“Offers a drink, I decline. Then he says that being close to him would give me many advantages in the academic environment, until he sat down next to me, grabbed my thigh and suggested that he could deepen the relationship. At that moment I get my things, I leave there a bit stunned ”, she detailed.
The following day, there was a meeting in Boaventura’s room to discuss another work carried out together with his former partner and, according to Bella Gonçalves, the researcher criticized the work quite harshly, especially his former partner.
“I understood that it was a retaliation, that it was a moral harassment after a refusal of intimate approach”, he denounced.
The deputy also stated that at the time, in addition to being afraid of making the complaint because the doctorate was in progress, she did not see the context to advance.
“Now I have conditions that many women do not have to denounce”, she said, referring to the visibility given by the position.
Lusa questioned Boaventura de Sousa Santos by email this Saturday about these accusations, but did not receive a response.
To Lusa, asked if he had received the allegations, António Sousa Ribeiro replied: “As an investigation commission is announced, I will provide all clarifications and, if necessary, I will present documentary evidence at the headquarters.”
This case of alleged harassment involving researchers Boaventura de Sousa Santos and Bruno Sena Martins, also from CES, was known this week. Both denied the accusations and suspended the activity, at their request.
Three researchers who passed through CES denounced situations of harassment and sexual violence by these two members of the study center in a chapter of the book “Sexual misconduct in the Academy – For an Ethics of Care at the University”, published by the international publisher Routledge.
“When they put themselves in a defensive position, disqualifying the women who wrote the article, even disqualifying the academic performance of these women, in a position of absurd denial, there I was no longer able to remain silent”, underlined the deputy.
Bella Gonçalves is still considering filing a formal complaint with the authorities, but admits that she has to assess the situation of wear and tear that this whole process would bring.
Seeing with good eyes the removal of the two CES investigators, he considers that the case has a great impact: “I am not a person who believes in punitive justice, I do not want to see him pay for what he did. It’s not about him, it’s about changing that system.”
The deputy underlined that CES and the University of Coimbra are very important institutions for critical thinking, including in Brazil and throughout Latin America.
“My objective here is in no way attacking the legacy of scientific knowledge that was produced there, nor even attacking the scientific knowledge that was produced by Boaventura”, he concluded.
In a statement released on Friday, Boaventura de Sousa Santos refers that he decided to withdraw from the activities of the CES, so that “the institution can carry out, with all the independence that is necessary, the investigations of the information presented and give consequence to the verification process internal” through an independent commission.
The CES itself also reported on Friday that the investigators are “suspended from all positions they held” at the institution until the conclusions of the independent commission that will investigate the accusations are determined.
Boaventura de Sousa Santos is director emeritus of CES and scientific coordinator of the Permanent Observatory of Portuguese Justice of that institution, and is also part of the permanent committee of the scientific council of the study centre.
Bruno Sena Martins, graduated in Anthropology, is, according to the CES website, co-coordinator of the PhD program Human Rights in Contemporary Societies and professor in the PhD program Post-Colonialisms and Global Citizenship, having been vice-president chairman of the scientific council between 2017 and 2019.
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