Repertoires of resistance

the struggle of social movements for recognition in prison policy

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2025/80516

Drawing from the concept of collective action repertoire, formulated by the American sociologist Charles Tilly, we propose a study on the performance of social movements engaged in the struggle for decarceration and the cessation of violence within prison. Through ethnographic research grounded in documentary analysis, we examine the specific case of activities conducted in the state of Maranhão. The choice of this particular case is justified by the emergence of a repertoire of resistance practices that, through popular mobilization and the formation of pressure groups, seeks to gain spaces for participation in prison policy and urges the judiciary to alter its decision-making pattern. We argue that the strengthening of local networks gained conditions for development based on a paradigmatic case of violence that occurred in Maranhão, namely the massacre at Pedrinhas penitentiary in 2013.