The Resurgence of Ultraconservatism in Brazil: An Analysis of Nikolas Ferreira's Political-Religious Discourse Against Feminist and LGBTQIAP+ Values and Agendas

Abstract

The increasing prominence of ultraconservative agendas in the realm of social issues in Brazil, combined with the rise of Bolsonarism, is one of the key factors shaping the national political landscape. Consequently, one of the prominent figures in this context is the Bolsonarist and evangelical federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL), particularly known for his opposition to leftist values and his attacks on LGBTQIAP+ and feminist communities in Brazil. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to understand how the ideological aversion to feminism and LGBTQIAP+ groups is constructed within his religiously-driven political discourse. We hypothesize that his narrative is grounded in conservative and reactionary worldviews. Methodologically, the study is mixed in nature and will employ textual and discursive analysis, anchored in the theoretical-methodological foundations of John Pocock and Quentin Skinner's linguistic contextualism, as well as Michael Freeden's studies on the morphology of political ideologies. With a time frame covering the years 2022 to 2024, the study’s data will include both the book and any other texts published by the parliamentarian, as well as his social media posts (such as on platforms like X and YouTube). Additionally, we will utilize software that captures semantic recurrences and similarities (Iramuteq), as well as the video transcription program TurboScribe to select the most substantive excerpts. The results suggest that Nikolas's discourse on this topic is ideologically rooted in political-religious values characteristic of conservatism and reactionarism.