"Who has the power to choose the history?": reports and reflections on the production of women photojournalists in Brazil

Abstract

The research its about women’s photojournalistic coverage which reflect by a certain logic that can be considered producers of non-regulatory frameworks of a political and social real- ity. These are frameworks that somehow break with what would be authorized by the ruling state, according to the thinking proposed by Judith Butler (2015). The epistemological perspective of Gender Studies and the theoretical basis of Women's History contribute to for this reflection, which focuses on two historical periods marked by censorship and hostility: the Brazilian military dicta- torship (1964 - 1985), a time when the curtailment of civil society rights was established, falling very heavily on the country's press; and the period comprising the presidential mandate of Jair M. Bolsonaro (2018-2022). It was an episode in recent history that recalls characteristics of the 1970s, such as the encouragement of authority, conservatism and violence. Throughout the discus- sion, excerpts from four interviews are presented, one of which (Beth Cruz) came from a more extensive study using Oral History methodology (Schmitt, 2022), which allowed us to observe that certain photographic experiences operate as a kind of resistance to the image that has been done and continues to be constructed about the country. In addition, we present accounts by Gabriela Biló, Elvira Alegre and Nair Benedicto. All the interviews was collected from academic publications available online: the first two are from university laboratories and the third from a scientific journal. It is believed that the images produced by these women can be seen as a way of challenging images that have become icons of certain political periods and that are still in constant dispute for the position of "true" history.