Doctoral Dissertation Research: Disputes, Deformalization, and Discourse: Small Claims Court Reform in Brazil

9632453在巴西1984年向民主过渡之后，国家对公民身份和普遍权利的重视导致了寻求使法庭程序和途径现代化的政策。这些政策的一个结果是联邦授权，下令设立特别小额索赔法庭。各国设立了小额索赔法院，其组成和程序差别很大。这项研究是对巴西两个城市小额诉讼法院的人种学比较调查，旨在探索巴西公民对权利和公民身份的讨论、裁决和司法改革之间的关系。具体地说，这项研究审查了小额诉讼法院程序中的司法改革与巴西公民和权利概念之间的联系。为该项目选择的两个小额索赔法院差别很大。一个没有经过程序性变形，而另一个已经经历了。该项目的第一阶段将从档案研究开始，特别侧重于案件记录、政治演讲、报纸和期刊文章以及当地法律组织的出版物。这一阶段研究的目标是寻找诉讼的趋势，并建立权利和公民话语的社会领域。第二阶段将包括法庭观察和对诉讼当事人、州官员、法庭工作人员、行政人员和当地法律机构的采访。这一阶段的研究旨在记录公民身份和权利在实践中的实例，并引出对这些社会理想的人种学解释。%

9632453 Nader Following Brazil's transition to democracy in 1984, the state's emphasis on citizenship and universalistic rights has led to policies seeking to modernize courtroom procedure and access. One result of these policies has been a federal mandate ordering the establishment of special small claims courts. States have established small claims courts which vary dramatically in their constitution and procedure. This research is a comparative ethnographic investigation of two urban Brazilian small claims courts that explores the relationship among civic discussions of rights and citizenship, adjudication, and judicial reform in Brazil. Specifically, the study examines the linkages between judicial deformalization in small claims court procedure and Brazilian conceptions of citizenship and rights. The two small claims courts chosen for the project differ considerably. One as not undergone procedural deformalization whereas the other has. The first phase of the project will begin with archival research specifically focusing on case records, political speeches, newspaper and journal articles, and the publications of local legal organizations. The goal of this phase of the research is to look for trends in litigation and establish the social domain of rights and citizenship discourse. The second phase will consist of courtroom observation and interviews with litigants, state officials, courtroom staff, administrators, and local legal agencies. This phase of the research is designed to document instances of citizenship and rights in practice and elicit ethnographic accounts of these social ideals. %%%%