Diego Bustos

PhD
Spanish and Portuguese

Research Title : Variations and Empowerment of the Brazilian New Middle Class: The Case of Agência de redes para a juventude in Rio de Janeiro

Diego Bustos, a PhD student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the summer of 2017 to research Agência de redes para a juventude, an NGO which supports the entrepreneurial possibilities of creative projects carried out by youth in Rio de Janeiro’s lower-income public spaces and communities. Agência’s aim is to empower young cultural entrepreneurs by providing them with the necessary material and discursive tools to impact the public sphere in their communities through cultural endeavors.  Through this case study, Diego focuses on textual production and its impacts on class identities. Additional aspects of his research include different cultural representations of the new middle class as actively imagined, and the possibilities and limits of various models of social inclusion and cultural citizenship.  Diego’s research contributes to the discussion about articulation and performance of citizenship and social and cultural exclusion in Latin America.