From the street protests of 2013 to President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment and her replacement by Michel Temer, to the imprisonment of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the rise to power of former army captain Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's political landscape has shifted rapidly, confronted with realities considered unimaginable only a few years earlier.

The ongoing political, social and economic crises in Brazil were the empirical context used as springboard for interdisciplinary discussion in the seminar titled ‘A horizon of (im)possibilities: reflecting on the social implications of recent political upheaval in Brazil’, which took place on 22 February 2019 at King's College London. The seminar was organised by Katerina Hatzikidi and co-hosted by the King's Brazil Institute and the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS), with the kind support of the Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS). Drawing on the notion of possibility and acknowledging that the 2018 presidential elections were but the outcome, or culmination, of a series of transformations that had been taking place over several years, the seminar invited researchers to consider and critically reflect upon current political events and their social implications.

The three papers included here continue and deepen some of the conversations which started there. This Special Section, together with the edited volume A Horizon of (Im)possibilities: A Chronicle of Brazil's Conservative Turn, co-edited by Katerina Hatzikidi and Eduardo Dullo, forthcoming with ILAS/The University of London Press, are the two main publications resulting from the above mentioned seminar. Combining ethnography with cutting-edge theoretical reflections, the contributors to this Special Section delve into recent social, religious and political developments in Brazil. Each focusing on distinct case studies, they share a common interest in temporally and spatially contextualising and disentangling an intricate series of small- and large-scale events which preceded Bolsonaro's ascent to the presidency. The authors set out to unravel and comprehend some of the key social conditions in place, as well as their dynamic development over recent years, offering unique insights into the country's 2018 conservative turn.

Analysing ethnographic data gathered in São Paulo street protests in light of Heredia and Palmeira's theory of the tempo da política (political season), and offering an historically informed analysis of Brazil's ‘authoritarian tradition’, Eduardo Dullo suggests that a protracted ‘political season’, which started with the countrywide demonstrations in 2013, destabilised and profoundly transformed the national political landscape and shifted the horizons of what was politically possible (or impossible). Drawing on Gregory Bateson's notion of schismogenesis, Dullo argues that with the expansion of the ‘political ritual’, not only did individuals begin to openly act in anti-pluralist ways, but they experienced a situation of ‘radical unpredictability’ which is likely to have long-term effects on Brazilian society. Dullo's suggestion is that in this unusual political temporality, a possible way out of the continuous escalation of polarisation was, for many, to resort to a state of exception, reiterating the country's authoritarian tradition.

In his article, David Simbsler explores the temporalities of the ‘political season’ and ‘disruptions’ in the course of everyday life from a rural vantage point. Bringing astute ethnographic insights from Pentecostal families that form part of Landless Movement (MST) settlements in Pernambuco, Simbsler critically explores how ‘the national’ feeds into ‘the local’, and offers an original and compelling analysis of a lesser known aspect of evangelical political participation in contemporary Brazil. Placing morality at the centre of ongoing socio-political transformations, he moves beyond classic frames of analysis, such as patronage, to explore the complex and subtle relations between Pentecostalism and grassroots political activism, paying attention to acts of moral reciprocity and to a complex network of power relations. In doing so, his analysis challenges sharp dichotomies between ‘the ‘political’ and ‘the religious. Furthermore, it questions the notion of ‘popular bolsonarism’, broadly understood to be implemented by clientelistic strategies of Pentecostal churches, pointing instead towards the existence of ‘moral repertoires of subjectivation on a moving ground of multiple crises’.

Finally, in the context of urban peripheries in Rio de Janeiro, Silvia Stefani explores the shortcomings of major social policies, such as the federal housing programme Minha Casa Minha Vida, and the effect these may have had on voting behaviour. Bringing vibrant ethnographic insights from Rio's favela residents who participated in the programme, her analysis traces the increasing mistrust, among clusters of the working class, of Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT, Workers' Party) which initiated the project. Limited participation in decision-making processes, increased socio-spatial segregation, forced removals in the context of wider urban transformations as Rio was preparing to host two mega-events, and an overall deterioration of living conditions were some of the main factors, Stefani argues, that turned working-class voters in Rio's urban peripheries away from the PT, and establishment politics at large, and towards a fringe candidate who successfully presented himself as ‘anti-system’.

From the streets of São Paulo to a Landless Movement settlement in rural Pernambuco to Rio's favelas, this Special Section weaves together meticulous ethnographic analyses that unpack and dissect, in distinct ways, some of the intricate social, political and economic realities that paved the way for the 2018 national elections. Situating their analyses in a critical historical conjuncture, these articles affirm the invaluable role of ethnographic fieldwork in giving nuance to, and illuminating, even the most complex and contentious lived experiences. It is hoped that this Special Section will contribute to the ongoing debates on Brazil's recent political transformations, help readers better understand the historical moment of the 2018 presidential elections, and sketch a future horizon of possibilities.

从 2013 年的街头抗议到总统迪尔玛·罗塞夫被弹劾并由米歇尔·特梅尔取而代之，再到前总统路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦入狱以及前陆军上尉雅伊尔·博尔索纳罗上台，巴西的政治格局迅速转变，面临着仅在几年前才被认为不可想象的现实。

巴西持续的政治、社会和经济危机是在题为“（不）可能性的地平线：反思巴西近期政治动荡的社会影响”的研讨会中用作跨学科讨论跳板的实证背景，研讨会于2019 年 2 月 22 日在伦敦国王学院。该研讨会由Katerina Hatzikidi 组织，由国王巴西研究所和拉丁美洲研究所（ILAS）共同主办，并得到拉丁美洲研究学会（SLAS）的鼎力支持。借鉴可能性的概念并承认 2018 年总统选举只是多年来发生的一系列转变的结果或高潮，

这里包含的三篇论文继续并加深了从那里开始的一些对话。这个特别部分，连同编辑的卷（Im）可能性的地平线：巴西保守转向的编年史, 由 Katerina Hatzikidi 和 Eduardo Dullo 共同编辑，即将与 ILAS/伦敦大学出版社合作，是上述研讨会的两个主要出版物。将民族志与前沿理论反思相结合，本专题的撰稿人深入研究了巴西最近的社会、宗教和政治发展。每个人都专注于不同的案例研究，他们在时间和空间上对一系列错综复杂的小规模和大规模事件有着共同的兴趣，这些事件发生在博尔索纳罗上任总统之前。作者着手阐明和理解一些关键的社会状况，以及它们近年来的动态发展，为该国 2018 年的保守转向提供独特的见解。

根据埃雷迪亚和帕尔梅拉的政治节奏理论分析在圣保罗街头抗议活动中收集的民族志数据（政治季节），并提供对巴西“威权传统”的历史分析，爱德华多·杜洛（Eduardo Dullo）表示，从 2013 年全国示威开始的旷日持久的“政治季节”破坏并深刻改变了国家政治格局，改变了地平线什么在政治上是可能的（或不可能的）。借鉴格雷戈里·贝特森 (Gregory Bateson) 的分裂论概念，杜洛 (Dullo) 认为，随着“政治仪式”的扩张，个人不仅开始公开以反多元主义的方式行事，而且他们还经历了一种“根本不可预测”的情况，这种情况很可能已经发生对巴西社会的长期影响。杜洛的建议是，在这种不寻常的政治暂时性中，对许多人来说，摆脱两极分化持续升级的可能方法是，

大卫·辛布斯勒 (David Simbsler) 在他的文章中从农村的有利位置探讨了日常生活中“政治季节”和“干扰”的暂时性。辛布斯勒从构成伯南布哥州无地运动 (MST) 定居点的五旬节派家庭中汲取了敏锐的民族志见解，批判性地探索了“国家”如何融入“地方”，并对福音派政治鲜为人知的方面进行了原创和令人信服的分析参与当代巴西。将道德置于正在进行的社会政治变革的中心，他超越了经典的分析框架，例如赞助，探索五旬节派与基层政治激进主义之间复杂而微妙的关系，关注道德互惠行为和复杂的网络的权力关系。在这样做，他的分析挑战了“政治”和“宗教”之间的尖锐二分法。此外，它质疑“大众博尔索纳主义”的概念，该概念被广泛理解为由五旬节教会的庇护主义策略实施，而是指向“在多重危机的移动基础上主观化的道德剧目”的存在。

最后，在里约热内卢城市周边的背景下，西尔维娅·史蒂芬尼探讨了主要社会政策的缺点，例如联邦住房计划 Minha Casa Minha Vida，以及这些政策可能对投票行为产生的影响。她从参与该计划的里约热内卢贫民窟居民那里汲取了充满活力的民族志见解，她的分析追溯了工人阶级群体对Partido dos Trabalhadores日益增长的不信任（PT，工人党）发起了该项目。Stefani 认为，在里约热内卢准备举办两场大型活动时，参与决策过程的参与有限、社会空间隔离加剧、在更广泛的城市转型背景下被迫搬迁，以及生活条件的整体恶化是一些主要因素，这使里约城市外围的工人阶级选民远离了劳工党和整个建制派政治，转向了一位成功地将自己展示为“反体制”的边缘候选人。

从圣保罗的街道到伯南布哥州农村的无地运动定居点，再到里约热内卢的贫民窟，这个专题将细致的民族志分析编织在一起，以不同的方式解开和剖析一些错综复杂的社会、政治和经济现实，这些现实为无地运动铺平了道路2018年全国大选。这些文章将他们的分析置于一个关键的历史关头，肯定了民族志田野调查在给予细微差别和启发方面的宝贵作用，即使是最复杂和有争议的生活经历。希望本专题能为巴西近期政治变革的持续辩论做出贡献，帮助读者更好地了解 2018 年总统大选的历史时刻，并描绘未来的可能性。