"Seremos Protagonistas" : o esperançar micropolítico da Geração Cidadã de Dados e a promoção de justiça nas margens do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the Geração Cidadã de Dados (Citizen-Generated Data), a grassroots activist movement emerging from the margins of Rio de Janeiro to demand broader popular participation in policymaking, decision-making, and local governance through independent data production. Drawing on a qualitative, exploratory study with ethnographic inspiration—supported by participant observation, interviews with key actors, document analysis, and a literature review—this research explores how the movement organizes itself, constructs meaning, and contests the field of knowledge production regarding popular territories. The study examines the movement’s grammars, categories, and practices, as well as the controversies and disputes shaping its projects and discourses. The findings indicate that the initiative transcends data collection and analysis, functioning as a tool for memory, care, and belonging. It constitutes a situated and participatory pedagogy in which protagonism manifests as an act of esperançar (praxis of hope), legitimizing popular sovereignty and the right to the city. Finally, the analysis demonstrates that this activist practice fosters new forms of justice and citizenship, strengthens social bonds, and proposes concrete experiences of democratic reinvention.