Chief Serere as cultural capital of brazilian anti-democratic protests:

the harbinger of the coup attacks of january 2023

Abstract

The scientific article examines how the arrest of José Acácio Serere Xavante, an indigenous man known by the epithet of "Chief Serere", occurred on December 12, 2022, acted as an institutionalized cultural capital for Bolsonaro’s protesters to reunite their anti-democratic mobilizations, out of disagreement with the outcome of the 2022 presidential elections (which elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva)as well as served to prophesy the anti-democratic attacks in the Praça dos Três Poderes, in Brasília/DF, on January 8, 2023. From the theory of Pierre Bourdieu, we analyze how the ethnic identity of Chief Serere was associated with the inaccurate dimensions of patriotism (although highly ideologized by protesters)as cultural capital and part of a habitus that would lead to attempts to break democracy in Brazil. The arrest of the indigenous people was linked to the dissatisfaction of the coup with the political-institutional system and can be seen as an institutionalized cultural capital that caused effects in the political and social fields of the demonstrators, whose consequences allowed us to anticipate reactions when President Lula’s definitive inauguration in 2023. The qualitative method is adopted.