Research

Three clusters, one question.

How do institutions, classifications, and technologies organize power, produce vulnerability, and reshape governance?

Cluster 01

Governance, corruption, and institutional power

This cluster examines how reforms, public services, state capacity, corruption politics, opacity, and institutional histories shape contemporary forms of governance.

Governance Corruption Historical Sociology Institutions

Featured publication · Cambridge University Press · 2026

Forattini, F. M. (2026). The contingency of mobilization: The social contexts of Operation Lava Jato in Brazil. In M. Garrido, M. Zaloznaya, & N. H. Wilson (Eds.), A comparative historical sociology of corruption. Cambridge University Press.

A central statement of the governance/corruption/historical sociology axis.

American Behavioral Scientist · 2026

Beyond “best practices”: A historical-sociological critique of privatization, decentralization, and anti-corruption reforms in 1990s Brazil.

Governance Reform

Journal of Interdisciplinary History / MIT Press · 2026

The rise and evolution of anti-corruption impulses in the United States and Brazil.

Corruption Comparative History

Palgrave Macmillan · 2026

Fighting sexual corruption in public services: Lessons from women’s experiences in Brazil.

Public Services Gender

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Cluster 02

Inequality, classification, and recognition

This cluster studies how race, Indigeneity, identity categories, vulnerability, and official classifications mediate recognition, inequality, and political life.

Classification Inequality Indigeneity Recognition

Featured publication · Oxford University Press · 2026

Forattini, F., & Miranda Braga, B. (2026). The weight of the “pardo” category: Official statistics and the deracialization of Indigenous peoples. In Oxford Intersections: Racism by Context. Oxford University Press.

A core piece on race, classification, Indigenous recognition, and data inequality.

Cronos · 2023

Produção e reprodução das desigualdades sociais relacionadas à COVID-19 expressas nas redes sociais.

Inequality Social Data

European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies · 2020

Piripkura: The plight of Indigenous people, environment, and Brazilian identity.

Indigeneity Environment

Culture, identity, and political imagination

Superman e a virada conservadora de Reagan.

Culture Politics

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Cluster 03

Technology, AI, and sociotechnical governance

This cluster connects digital public services, responsible AI, care ethics, gendered harm, information systems, and institutional accountability.

Technology AI Gender Institutions

Featured publication · European Journal of Information Systems · under review

Forattini, F., & Connolly, R. (under review). When Promethean leaps meet institutional power: Designing digital public services through a care-ethical lens. European Journal of Information Systems.

A bridge into information systems, digital public services, care ethics, and institutional power.

Information Systems Management · 2026

Prometheus ambition, Zeusian order: Why leaps in information systems require structurally aware ethical frameworks.

AI Ethics Institutions

ACM SIGMIS Database · 2026

From design to policy: Embedding care ethics and STEM institutional insights in gender-focused technology.

Care Ethics Gender

ACM SIGMIS Database · 2025

Breaking boundaries: Advancing gender and technology research to combat sextortion.

Technology Gendered Harm

HICSS · 2026

AI agents in gender-sensitive public service encounters.

AI Public Services

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