Marcus V. A. B. de Matos is a Lecturer in Law at Brunel University London since July 2021. Dr De Matos holds a PhD in Law from Birkbeck, University of London, fully funded by a CAPES Foundation Overseas Scholarship (0999-12-1), a MRes in Human Rights and a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). He is an Honorary Member at the Institute of Brazilian Lawyers (IAB), and currently a Guest Lecturer at the State Attorney’s Office (PGE/RJ) Professional Postgraduate School, where he teaches Legal Theory classes in the Public Law Programme. Before joining Brunel he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National School of Law in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), funded by the Brazilian National Council of Research (CNPq). Previously he was Director of Teaching Programmes at the Judicial School in the High Labour Courts in Rio de Janeiro (TRT/RJ); Advisor to the State Secretariat for Human Rights in Rio de Janeiro (SEASDH); Visiting Researcher at the Institute for Social Sciences (ICS) in the University of Lisbon; Associate Tutor at Birkbeck College; and Part-time teacher at the London School of Economics (LSE).
Full profile: https://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/marcus-dematos Supervisors: Costas Douzinas and Juliana Neuenschwander Magalhães
This paper investigates the role of the dark knight archetype in the theory of sovereignty. The d... more This paper investigates the role of the dark knight archetype in the theory of sovereignty. The dark knight archetype has repeatedly emerged in popular culture, but has never been fully explored in jurisprudence and political theory. The aim is to develop a new visual method to bridge the distance between the theory and the tropes that have historically been used to create and justify the notion of sovereignty. Sovereignty is understood here not only as a founding concept of modern legal theory, but also as a trope: a special kind of narrative, illustrated, capable of being modernized, and yet maintaining its initial trends; one that is foundational and colonial, and capable of institutionalizing subjects and sovereigns. Strategically following the works of Agamben, Benjamin, Jung and Warburg, this paper analysesin a psychoanalytical sensethe unconscious dimensions of sovereignty from evidence collected in popular culture and political history. From fallen medieval knights to Zorro; from fascist Blackshirts to Darth Vader, this paper examines the pervasive repetition of dark knight figures in Western tropes of sovereignty and its consequences.
This paper is an attempt to bridge distances between the fields of critical legal theory and visu... more This paper is an attempt to bridge distances between the fields of critical legal theory and visual studies, in defining the image. It is heavily influenced by the work of W. J. T. Mitchell, and brings his genealogy of the image closer to previous work on Critical Legal Studies (CLS), such as Costas Douzinas' legal-phenomenology of the image. It is also dependent on psychoanalytical theory, such as in the work of Pierre Legendre and Peter Goodrich, and in deals with desires-both of images, and for images. It's main hypothesis is that there is a conceptual difference in how visual studies deal with the category of image, using the concept of "visuality;" to that of legal studies concerned with the image, where the category applied to it is "visibility." Bridging this difference, is argued, is fundamental for developing a unified conception of the image. Finally, it argues that Visibility and Visuality, as possibility and power, are fundamental in the technical construction of knowledge, subjectivity and power exercised through law and images.
The commemorative edition of the 80th anniversary of Casa Grande & Senzala, the founding book of ... more The commemorative edition of the 80th anniversary of Casa Grande & Senzala, the founding book of Brazilian modern sociology written by Gilberto Freyre and published in 2013, shows on its cover a glamorous ‘Casa Grande’ (Big House, the Lord’s house), lit like an architectural landmark, ready to serve as the set for a film or a TV soap opera. What happened to the ‘Senzala’ (the Slave Quarters) that appeared on the covers of the dozens of previous editions? This paper investigates, following some changes in Brazilian Visual Culture in the twentieth century, how such an astonishing disappearance could take place. The paper examines the image of the slave quarters as part of a racial trope: a foundational and colonial trope, one that is capable of institutionalizing subjects and producing a subaltern mode of subjectivity. It also explores connections between critical legal studies and visual and cultural studies to question how and why knowledge produced over the status, nature and function of images contributes to institute—and institutionalize subjectivity. In order to explain this disappearance we propose a legal-iconological experiment. We will enunciate, and attempt to enact, the Statute of Image-nation: the laws of the image that constitute subjectivity in Brazilian racial tropes. In doing so, we might be able to point out the ways in which law and image function together in institutionalizing subjectivity—and subjection.
This article is not intended as a full report on the current and complex situation of church and ... more This article is not intended as a full report on the current and complex situation of church and society in Brazil. Instead, I will mainly write about things I have experienced or observed in the past three years and briefly relate them to the history of the church in Brazil. The aim here is to give a narrative to historical and current facts that directly affect the Brazilian church, especially Protestant and evangelical denominations and their affiliated organizations. To add academic weight to this personal narrative I will also include findings from a research project I conducted from 2005 to 2010 in the Institute for the Study of Religion (ISER), in Rio de Janeiro. The project gave me the opportunity to interview seventeen evangelical pastors who had been arrested during the country’s most recent military dictatorship (1964–1985). My method is what one can call “participatory observation,” in which the observer is located inside the observed group or community. Or, as we might say in this case, following Giorgio Agamben, when the observer is “caught” by an apparatus: a network of power relations determined by government bodies, NGOs, realpolitik, the media, and ecclesiastical institutions. I will argue that the alignment of the Brazilian church with the powers that be is not only the result of a poor choice to conform to the world it was supposed to change but is also a deliberate choice to promote the right-winged, colonial, and racist politics that have historically compromised its witness. And this choice has been made in at least three specific moments in our history. The rooster has crowed three times to warn Brazilian evangelicals and Protestants, of their denials of Jesus, as in Luke 22:61¬62.
This article is a case study in which we want to put to the test the very notion that human right... more This article is a case study in which we want to put to the test the very notion that human rights can be improved by government policy. To achieve this goal we will examine the problematic relationship between human rights and public policy that emerged in the implementation of the Witness and Victims Protection Programme (PROVITA) in Rio de Janeiro between 2010 and 2011. We argue that only when we take a critical perspective of human rights discourse and use it to turn government institutions against themselves, can we ever make any serious advance in protecting human rights. We will put this theory to the test by analysing one case: the case of 'Daniel', which tested witness protection policies in Rio de Janeiro to its limits. Such limits are usually borderline places between statutes, administrative law, public policies, police institutions, NGOs and political parties. In the Brazilian context, they also revolve around a subtle and dangerous relationship between organised crime and government security forces. Emergency situations, as the study will illustrate, may go beyond political agreements, shortening negotiations, crossing borders between the legal and the illegal, and expanding policy through an almost dialectic tension. There is very limited information about this kind of policy (witness protection), and this justifies the need for research and the analysis of case-related evidence.
Revista Direitos Sociais e Políticas Públicas (UNIFAFIBE)
This paper presents the first findings of a research project in Human Rights & Religion. It discu... more This paper presents the first findings of a research project in Human Rights & Religion. It discusses the main historical sources available and their potential legal, social and political impact. This is a memory & truth project that focus on the history of religious leaders who were arrested and persecuted for their opinions and analyses their struggle for human liberation and democracy. Most of them were accused under anti-communist legislation, because of their theological concerns about social justice. In this short article we will investigate a few outcomes and findings about the 1962 Brazilian North-eastern Conference whose title was shocking to both political and ecclesiastical authorities of the time: “Christ and the Brazilian revolutionary process” – a conference that reshaped the borders between human rights and religion in the 1960s, by changing the understanding of church and society relations in Latin America.
Resumo A soberania do estado é um paradoxo fundante nas teorias do direito e da constituição, e t... more Resumo A soberania do estado é um paradoxo fundante nas teorias do direito e da constituição, e tem sido constantemente ressignificada ao longo da história, para servir a interesses políticos diferentes – e frequentemente contraditórios. Direito e Estado, justificados pela emergência de uma teoria moderna da soberania, foram historicamente descritos através da razão e da razoabilidade, porém nunca deixaram de ser construídos de maneira fictícia. A soberania já foi discutida dentro das categorias de espaço e tempo, e descrita através dos efeitos das decisões soberanas. Mais recentemente, esse debate incluiu também uma virada dos paradigmas espaço-temporais, para uma abordagem visual. Neste artigo, estes temas serão discutidos a partir de métodos desenvolvidos nos campos do direito e literatura, direito e psicanálise, e direito e cinema, para visualizar o que é a noção que compreendemos contemporaneamente como soberania. Para isso, será desenvolvida uma investigação visual da ideia de...
Este artigo discute um documento que "apareceu" no trabalho de cooperação técnica que fazemos com... more Este artigo discute um documento que "apareceu" no trabalho de cooperação técnica que fazemos com o Museu da República, para tratamento do acervo da Igreja Positivista do Brasil. Logo após a proclamação da República, muitas opiniões surgiram no debate público sobre os rumos do país. Esse documento, assinado por Miguel Lemos, positivista ortodoxo, aponta para uma das rotas possíveis, e chama atenção pelo inusitado da proposta que contém, e pela sugestiva semelhança com alguns momentos da história brasileira recente. O texto comentando este interessante documento foi publicado pelo Blog do Museu Casa Benjamin Constant, sendo convidados dois especialistas da área de história e teoria do Direito para a tarefa: Marcus Vinicius de Matos, doutorando em Direito pelo Birkbeck College (Londres, Reino Unido) e Alexander de Castro, Doutor em História do Direito pela Università degli Studi di Firenze (Florença, Itália). Desejamos uma proveitosa leitura do comentário dos nossos convidados e uma ótima Semana da República. Museu Casa de Benjamin Constant.
Revista Sociedade e Cultura, Goiânia, v. 16, n. 1, p. 171-182, jan./jun. 2013.
Análise de projeto que grava em vídeo depoimentos de líderes evangélicos persegui- dos pela ditad... more Análise de projeto que grava em vídeo depoimentos de líderes evangélicos persegui- dos pela ditadura militar, com o intuito de que jovens da atualidade tenham contato com esse material. Utiliza reflexões de Michael Pollak e Maurice Halbwachs, e as re- lações entre memória e temporalidades contemporâneas tecidas por Andreas Huyssen e Martin-Barbero. São percebidas disputas de identidade e pertencimento dentro do grupo e no contexto amplo da história oficial/ memória nacional.
Revista da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 2012
Este artigo discute a posição dos estudos sobre Direito e Cinema nas Teorias Jurídicas contemporâ... more Este artigo discute a posição dos estudos sobre Direito e Cinema nas Teorias Jurídicas contemporâneas, estabelecendo relações entre o papel da eficácia como conceito de valor nas teorias pós-positivistas do Direito, e a ausência de fundamentos na Pós-modernidade. O escopo teórico principal do trabalho se baseia na obra do pensador francês Jacques Ellul, e assume premissas da filosofia existencialista de Kierkegaard. A partir deste marco teórico questiona-se o pressuposto pós-moderno de que apenas a eficácia e a técnica podem se apresentar como paradigmas de justiça para legitimação do Direito nas teorias jurídicas contemporâneas. A investigação se concentra na forma como a produção de imagens e as teorias do direito pós-positivistas se relacionam, no âmbito dos estudos sobre Direito e Cinema, para a crítica do Direito e da Violência na “sociedade técnica”, como descrita por Jacques Ellul.
Este texto conta a história da participação da Rede FALE no evento "Marcha para Jesus" no Rio de ... more Este texto conta a história da participação da Rede FALE no evento "Marcha para Jesus" no Rio de Janeiro, em 2005, e estabelece críticas tanto à marcha quanto ao contexto de atuação de grupos evangélicos no espaço público.
This paper investigates the role of the dark knight archetype in the theory of sovereignty. The d... more This paper investigates the role of the dark knight archetype in the theory of sovereignty. The dark knight archetype has repeatedly emerged in popular culture, but has never been fully explored in jurisprudence and political theory. The aim is to develop a new visual method to bridge the distance between the theory and the tropes that have historically been used to create and justify the notion of sovereignty. Sovereignty is understood here not only as a founding concept of modern legal theory, but also as a trope: a special kind of narrative, illustrated, capable of being modernized, and yet maintaining its initial trends; one that is foundational and colonial, and capable of institutionalizing subjects and sovereigns. Strategically following the works of Agamben, Benjamin, Jung and Warburg, this paper analysesin a psychoanalytical sensethe unconscious dimensions of sovereignty from evidence collected in popular culture and political history. From fallen medieval knights to Zorro; from fascist Blackshirts to Darth Vader, this paper examines the pervasive repetition of dark knight figures in Western tropes of sovereignty and its consequences.
This paper is an attempt to bridge distances between the fields of critical legal theory and visu... more This paper is an attempt to bridge distances between the fields of critical legal theory and visual studies, in defining the image. It is heavily influenced by the work of W. J. T. Mitchell, and brings his genealogy of the image closer to previous work on Critical Legal Studies (CLS), such as Costas Douzinas' legal-phenomenology of the image. It is also dependent on psychoanalytical theory, such as in the work of Pierre Legendre and Peter Goodrich, and in deals with desires-both of images, and for images. It's main hypothesis is that there is a conceptual difference in how visual studies deal with the category of image, using the concept of "visuality;" to that of legal studies concerned with the image, where the category applied to it is "visibility." Bridging this difference, is argued, is fundamental for developing a unified conception of the image. Finally, it argues that Visibility and Visuality, as possibility and power, are fundamental in the technical construction of knowledge, subjectivity and power exercised through law and images.
The commemorative edition of the 80th anniversary of Casa Grande & Senzala, the founding book of ... more The commemorative edition of the 80th anniversary of Casa Grande & Senzala, the founding book of Brazilian modern sociology written by Gilberto Freyre and published in 2013, shows on its cover a glamorous ‘Casa Grande’ (Big House, the Lord’s house), lit like an architectural landmark, ready to serve as the set for a film or a TV soap opera. What happened to the ‘Senzala’ (the Slave Quarters) that appeared on the covers of the dozens of previous editions? This paper investigates, following some changes in Brazilian Visual Culture in the twentieth century, how such an astonishing disappearance could take place. The paper examines the image of the slave quarters as part of a racial trope: a foundational and colonial trope, one that is capable of institutionalizing subjects and producing a subaltern mode of subjectivity. It also explores connections between critical legal studies and visual and cultural studies to question how and why knowledge produced over the status, nature and function of images contributes to institute—and institutionalize subjectivity. In order to explain this disappearance we propose a legal-iconological experiment. We will enunciate, and attempt to enact, the Statute of Image-nation: the laws of the image that constitute subjectivity in Brazilian racial tropes. In doing so, we might be able to point out the ways in which law and image function together in institutionalizing subjectivity—and subjection.
This article is not intended as a full report on the current and complex situation of church and ... more This article is not intended as a full report on the current and complex situation of church and society in Brazil. Instead, I will mainly write about things I have experienced or observed in the past three years and briefly relate them to the history of the church in Brazil. The aim here is to give a narrative to historical and current facts that directly affect the Brazilian church, especially Protestant and evangelical denominations and their affiliated organizations. To add academic weight to this personal narrative I will also include findings from a research project I conducted from 2005 to 2010 in the Institute for the Study of Religion (ISER), in Rio de Janeiro. The project gave me the opportunity to interview seventeen evangelical pastors who had been arrested during the country’s most recent military dictatorship (1964–1985). My method is what one can call “participatory observation,” in which the observer is located inside the observed group or community. Or, as we might say in this case, following Giorgio Agamben, when the observer is “caught” by an apparatus: a network of power relations determined by government bodies, NGOs, realpolitik, the media, and ecclesiastical institutions. I will argue that the alignment of the Brazilian church with the powers that be is not only the result of a poor choice to conform to the world it was supposed to change but is also a deliberate choice to promote the right-winged, colonial, and racist politics that have historically compromised its witness. And this choice has been made in at least three specific moments in our history. The rooster has crowed three times to warn Brazilian evangelicals and Protestants, of their denials of Jesus, as in Luke 22:61¬62.
This article is a case study in which we want to put to the test the very notion that human right... more This article is a case study in which we want to put to the test the very notion that human rights can be improved by government policy. To achieve this goal we will examine the problematic relationship between human rights and public policy that emerged in the implementation of the Witness and Victims Protection Programme (PROVITA) in Rio de Janeiro between 2010 and 2011. We argue that only when we take a critical perspective of human rights discourse and use it to turn government institutions against themselves, can we ever make any serious advance in protecting human rights. We will put this theory to the test by analysing one case: the case of 'Daniel', which tested witness protection policies in Rio de Janeiro to its limits. Such limits are usually borderline places between statutes, administrative law, public policies, police institutions, NGOs and political parties. In the Brazilian context, they also revolve around a subtle and dangerous relationship between organised crime and government security forces. Emergency situations, as the study will illustrate, may go beyond political agreements, shortening negotiations, crossing borders between the legal and the illegal, and expanding policy through an almost dialectic tension. There is very limited information about this kind of policy (witness protection), and this justifies the need for research and the analysis of case-related evidence.
Revista Direitos Sociais e Políticas Públicas (UNIFAFIBE)
This paper presents the first findings of a research project in Human Rights & Religion. It discu... more This paper presents the first findings of a research project in Human Rights & Religion. It discusses the main historical sources available and their potential legal, social and political impact. This is a memory & truth project that focus on the history of religious leaders who were arrested and persecuted for their opinions and analyses their struggle for human liberation and democracy. Most of them were accused under anti-communist legislation, because of their theological concerns about social justice. In this short article we will investigate a few outcomes and findings about the 1962 Brazilian North-eastern Conference whose title was shocking to both political and ecclesiastical authorities of the time: “Christ and the Brazilian revolutionary process” – a conference that reshaped the borders between human rights and religion in the 1960s, by changing the understanding of church and society relations in Latin America.
Resumo A soberania do estado é um paradoxo fundante nas teorias do direito e da constituição, e t... more Resumo A soberania do estado é um paradoxo fundante nas teorias do direito e da constituição, e tem sido constantemente ressignificada ao longo da história, para servir a interesses políticos diferentes – e frequentemente contraditórios. Direito e Estado, justificados pela emergência de uma teoria moderna da soberania, foram historicamente descritos através da razão e da razoabilidade, porém nunca deixaram de ser construídos de maneira fictícia. A soberania já foi discutida dentro das categorias de espaço e tempo, e descrita através dos efeitos das decisões soberanas. Mais recentemente, esse debate incluiu também uma virada dos paradigmas espaço-temporais, para uma abordagem visual. Neste artigo, estes temas serão discutidos a partir de métodos desenvolvidos nos campos do direito e literatura, direito e psicanálise, e direito e cinema, para visualizar o que é a noção que compreendemos contemporaneamente como soberania. Para isso, será desenvolvida uma investigação visual da ideia de...
Este artigo discute um documento que "apareceu" no trabalho de cooperação técnica que fazemos com... more Este artigo discute um documento que "apareceu" no trabalho de cooperação técnica que fazemos com o Museu da República, para tratamento do acervo da Igreja Positivista do Brasil. Logo após a proclamação da República, muitas opiniões surgiram no debate público sobre os rumos do país. Esse documento, assinado por Miguel Lemos, positivista ortodoxo, aponta para uma das rotas possíveis, e chama atenção pelo inusitado da proposta que contém, e pela sugestiva semelhança com alguns momentos da história brasileira recente. O texto comentando este interessante documento foi publicado pelo Blog do Museu Casa Benjamin Constant, sendo convidados dois especialistas da área de história e teoria do Direito para a tarefa: Marcus Vinicius de Matos, doutorando em Direito pelo Birkbeck College (Londres, Reino Unido) e Alexander de Castro, Doutor em História do Direito pela Università degli Studi di Firenze (Florença, Itália). Desejamos uma proveitosa leitura do comentário dos nossos convidados e uma ótima Semana da República. Museu Casa de Benjamin Constant.
Revista Sociedade e Cultura, Goiânia, v. 16, n. 1, p. 171-182, jan./jun. 2013.
Análise de projeto que grava em vídeo depoimentos de líderes evangélicos persegui- dos pela ditad... more Análise de projeto que grava em vídeo depoimentos de líderes evangélicos persegui- dos pela ditadura militar, com o intuito de que jovens da atualidade tenham contato com esse material. Utiliza reflexões de Michael Pollak e Maurice Halbwachs, e as re- lações entre memória e temporalidades contemporâneas tecidas por Andreas Huyssen e Martin-Barbero. São percebidas disputas de identidade e pertencimento dentro do grupo e no contexto amplo da história oficial/ memória nacional.
Revista da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 2012
Este artigo discute a posição dos estudos sobre Direito e Cinema nas Teorias Jurídicas contemporâ... more Este artigo discute a posição dos estudos sobre Direito e Cinema nas Teorias Jurídicas contemporâneas, estabelecendo relações entre o papel da eficácia como conceito de valor nas teorias pós-positivistas do Direito, e a ausência de fundamentos na Pós-modernidade. O escopo teórico principal do trabalho se baseia na obra do pensador francês Jacques Ellul, e assume premissas da filosofia existencialista de Kierkegaard. A partir deste marco teórico questiona-se o pressuposto pós-moderno de que apenas a eficácia e a técnica podem se apresentar como paradigmas de justiça para legitimação do Direito nas teorias jurídicas contemporâneas. A investigação se concentra na forma como a produção de imagens e as teorias do direito pós-positivistas se relacionam, no âmbito dos estudos sobre Direito e Cinema, para a crítica do Direito e da Violência na “sociedade técnica”, como descrita por Jacques Ellul.
Este texto conta a história da participação da Rede FALE no evento "Marcha para Jesus" no Rio de ... more Este texto conta a história da participação da Rede FALE no evento "Marcha para Jesus" no Rio de Janeiro, em 2005, e estabelece críticas tanto à marcha quanto ao contexto de atuação de grupos evangélicos no espaço público.
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Papers by Marcus V. A. B. De Matos