Paul Freire ProgramNewsletter

Year 2, no. 3, June 2005

A note from the organizers

“Safety without Borders” conference

Other Events

Student Mobility

PFP Business Meeting April 2005

Agenda 2005-2006

2.

Pa

ulo

Fr

eir

e

Pro

gra

m

A note from the organizersThis is the third Paulo Freire Program Newsletter to be prepared by the VrijeUniversiteit committee. Much progress has been made in the 18 months since thefounding of the Program, and this newsletter details several of the resultsachieved so far. In it, we celebrate the inauguration of our definitive house style,the success of our first big Research Meeting, and the increase in the number ofstudent exchanges between the Program’s partners.

The VUA team feels that the time has come to hand over the baton. Although ithas been a pleasure to receive our partners in Amsterdam and to compose aNewsletter after each event, we are happy that future Research Meetings will beorganized by other local committees and that someone else will be taking careof the Newsletter.

We thank everybody for their contributions to the first three Newsletters andhope you will all enjoy this one, too.

Andrea Damacena Martins & Marjo de Theije

“Safety without Borders” conference at FSS

The “Safety without Borders” conference was held at the Vrije UniversiteitAmsterdam (VUA) on April 12-15, 2005. It was organized by the Faculty of SocialSciences and the Faculty of Law. The conference addressed the concept, theory,and practice of “safety” and “human security” in a series of plenary lectures andacademic workshops. Part of the event was organized by the Paulo FreireProgram team in Amsterdam (i.e., Dr. Marjo de Theije and Dr. Andrea DamacenaMartins). At the conference, four workshops compared the Brazilian and theDutch situation, which were represented by members of the Paulo FreireProgram network.

The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) granted funds forthe event, which were sufficient to pay the travel and hotel costs of fiveBrazilian scholars. Additional financial support was provided by the Board ofVUA; this enabled two foreign scholars who were already in Europe to partici-pate.

Urban security in a comparativeperspective

The special international workshop“Urban security in a comparative per-spective: violence in Cape Town, Rio deJaneiro, and Amsterdam” was held onthe first day (Tuesday). This workshop –which featured three extended lectures, one on each of the three cities – was opened by Dr. Harry Wels (VUA), anthropologist and director of the SAVUSAprogram, a cooperation between VUA and several South African universities.

3.

Pa

ulo

Fr

eir

e

Pro

gra

m

First, Dr. André Standing (Institute for Security Studies, Cape Town) showed howyouth gangs are reproduced within and outside the prisons in Cape Town. Hisinteresting lecture explored the moral code of criminals, who are very wellorganized as groups inside the prisons, and how this influences the youth in thestreets. Many young boys find that their power and status increase by becominga member and learning the gang’s codes. Dr. Standing analyzed the interconnec-tion between those inside and those outside the prisons, and the dynamics of vio-lence in both contexts.

Dr. Ignacio Cano (UERJ) started his lecture by presenting a large number of quan-titative data on criminality, drugs, and violence in the city of Rio de Janeiro, andrelated these to geographical areas of the city, as well as to gender, age andrace. He showed how young black males, who live in certain areas of town, aremuch more likely than other individuals to get killed in crimes related to drugs.Dr. Cano also analyzed recent public policies developed by the State of Rio deJaneiro, which has started a “war on crime.” These policies reveal the extreme-ly unequal relationship between the police and society, a relationship charac-terized by a police force focused on repression rather than on prevention. Thepolice force has become more militarized and lacks internal coordination, whichallows for corruption and impunity. Finally, Dr. Cano talked about the citizen’sperception of security, and the perception of the local population of both crim-inals and the police. Violence has become part of the identity of the city, whichis often characterized as a “paradise of beauty and chaos.” Nowadays, all mem-bers of the population perceive violence as a reality with which they have tolive. Nevertheless, different segments of the middle classes have created vari-ous strategies to tackle violence, such as founding social movements and devel-oping prevention programs. The city has been going through cycles of fear andcalm, the former caused by isolated events or tragedies (e.g., the recent killingsin Baixada Fluminense, and the hijacking of Bus 174). The public debate on vio-lence seems to be linked to these cycles rather than being a permanent discus-sion.

In the afternoon, Dr. Frank van Gemert gave a lecture in which he discussed the“annoying” activities of groups of young migrants in the urban environment ofAmsterdam. Although they operate in groups, it is difficult to classify theseyoungsters as members of gangs because, for example, there are no warsbetween gangs and the groups do not have an identifiable leadership structure.

In the discussion, which was chaired by Dr. Marjo de Theije, youth gangs in CapeTown, South Africa, and Amsterdam were compared. Prof. Leo Huberts openedthe debate by asking whether it is in fact possible to compare these three cases.Is it enough to agree on methods and concepts to make comparison possible? Thedifferences are very large, not only in the scale of the violence, but also in theway the groups are organized and society’s attitude towards the gangs and otherforms of organized crime. Drugs are a central element in Cape Town and Rio deJaneiro, but not in Amsterdam. This is related to the absence or malfunctioningof the police. In Rio de Janeiro, the State is absent from the slums and societytolerates the violence in these poor neighborhoods; the poor population iscaught between two coercive powers and has no formal rights or citizenship. Dr.Cano introduced the notion of “governance by crime;” where there is no State,crime takes over. From the perspective of many slum dwellers the criminals areboth more reliable and more predictable than the police, and are therefore seenas being more positive. Part of the problem is police brutality. The notion ofhuman rights is very weak. The solution that emerged from the discussion is thatthe State needs to take over again; for that, however, a professional police force

4.

Pa

ulo

Fr

eir

e

Pro

gra

m

is required. Such solutions as appointing neighborhood monitors, as Amsterdamhas done, will not be enough in Rio de Janeiro or Cape Town. This discussion wascontinued in the workshop on poverty, drugs, and organized crime.

Poverty, drugs, and organizedcrime

This workshop was held on theWednesday. Brazil and the Netherlandshave very different policies on drugs,but in both countries drug trafficking,violence, and organized crime are related. How is it that the connectionbetween drugs, violence, and organized crime is so strong in two such differentcountries? Dr. Mattijs van de Port (Universiteit van Amsterdam), who has pub-lished on organized crime in the Netherlands, chaired the session.

Dr. Damian Zaitch (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam) gave an engaging talk on vio-lence and the drugs market, and drew a comparison between the drug marketsin the United States, Latin America, and the Netherlands. Using empiricalresearch conducted in recent years on the organization of upper-level drug mar-kets in the Netherlands and on the role of violence in organized crime, heshowed different faces, rationalities, functions, and expressions of violenceamongst middle- and high-level traffickers in such a “peaceful” environment asthe Netherlands.

Dr. João Trajano Sento Sé (UERJ) continued with a presentation on violence, traf-ficking, and youth in Rio de Janeiro. He pointed out that drug trafficking and theviolence related to it have increased strongly in comparison to other illicit activ-ities in Brazil in the two last decades, and that there is a strong involvement ofyoung people in the illegal drug trade networks. One consequence of this rela-tionship is the high rates of victims amongst people aged between 15 and 34. Dr.Sé argued that the measures the police take against trafficking are not sufficientto reduce the number of murders amongst young people. He also showed that thecriminal groups take advantage of the lack of police control over the circulationof firearms, which are also used in other criminal acts.

Dr. Chris van der Borgh (Center for Conflict Studies, Utrecht Universiteit) dis-cussed the two presentations and highlighted the difference in the scale of vio-lence between Rio de Janeiro and the Netherlands. He also compared the pre-sentations with the results of his research in El Salvador. In both papers, therelation between drugs and firearms (and the illegal trade in both) is very strong.One point of attention is the extent to which the criminal groups fight amongthemselves (horizontal), rather than to gain power (vertical). Another issue isthat of brutality in the “war” between the police and criminal groups. Are thepolice trained to work with youths and the various categories of young criminals?Would another model of policing be capable of changing this culture of violence?

5.

Pa

ulo

Fr

eir

e

Pro

gra

m

Religion, violence, and security

This workshop was held on the Thursday.In discussions on human security, reli-gion has taken centre stage, as a resultof recent events in the Netherlands andof Islamic violence in the world.However, religion, violence, and securitymay be linked in many other ways, such as by the role of religious non-violencemovements in Brazilian slums or the conversion of criminals by Christian groups.The chair of this session, Dr. Oscar Salemink (VUA), said that in this workshop,the comparison of the Brazilian and the Dutch situation was intended to achievea common ground for the analysis of the connection between religion, violence,and concepts of security and insecurity.

Dr. Edien Bartels (VUA) presented her research on Dutch-Moroccan youths. In theNetherlands, Moroccan boys and girls who are not involved in criminal activityand are not radical are often treated negatively, as though they were connectedto groups that are involved in criminality and radicalism. She considered threeaspects of this situation, namely discussions between young Moroccans and theirpeers, parents, and imams, the impact the social debate on Islam is having onthese young people, and the activities of young people on the Internet. As a partof the analysis, she also drew attention to the radicals among these young people.

Dr. Clara Jost Mafra (UERJ) explored the twofold and tense relationship of bothcontinuity and contrast between the population that adheres to Pentecostalismand those who have become involved in drug trafficking. They develop differentways to interact with their surroundings and their living conditions. While thoseinvolved in drug trafficking strive to gain access to arms and to money in orderto buy spectacular and luxurious houses for their partners and extended families,the devout realize, through their churches, long and continuous projects of con-structing their housing, following an aesthetic of order and modesty. In heranalysis, Dr. Mafra highlighted the transformations of the widespread models ofsocial organization and socialization among the Brazilian lower classes.

Dr. Parry Scott (UFPE) dealt with the process of social exclusion as one of themajor sources of insecurity in relation to the State. He compared indigenous,dry-land peasants, relocated irrigation family farmers, and impoverished urbanworkers, all in the State of Pernambuco, and showed how these three local con-texts lead to different livelihood strategies and different constructions of groupand ethnic boundaries. These players create a porous ethnicity and group iden-tity as they go about situating themselves in relation to the State, to otherstake-holding agents, to their own representative leaders and organizations, and– of course – to their own daily lives. He explored the sources of insecurity forthe specific contexts and groups researched, and how religious choice fits intothe life schemes of the members of these groups. Dr. Scott emphasized that, astheorists on ethnic boundaries argue, local histories strongly marked by specificinterventions of the State, permit varied strategies of use of religious beliefs inan effort to combat the insecurity of local contexts (including the threat of vio-lence) and to strengthen collective identity on the bases of production, resi-dence, and consumption.

Prof. Birgit Meyer (VUA) discussed the three presentations and observed that allthree show the influence of processes of globalization and fragmentation, with

6.

Pa

ulo

Fr

eir

e

Pro

gra

m

respect to the notions of identification with a group or community. Belonging isno longer a natural process and “fearful others” create insecurity. She pleadedfor more research on the classifications of self and other in different culturalcontexts. Prof. Meyer also called attention to the backdrop of State and religion:Religion comes in where the State fails, as was shown in the presentations. Forexample, in the case of Rio de Janeiro, the growth of Protestantism can be seenas part and parcel of processes of fragmentation. Another important questionaddressed by Prof. Meyer concerned the achievements of the religious phenom-ena in these different social settings: Do they create security? In the discussion,it was stated that the idea of insecurity in all the cases discussed is not new, butthat the sources of insecurity change and vary depending on the social and cul-tural context.

Police accountability and integrity

Integrity and accountability are impor-tant topics in police research, in boththe Netherlands and Brazil. The goals setfor the police force may differ, but soci-ety and politicians set standards anddemand rules for control. What steps do the police take to fulfill their tasks?How different or similar are the developments in Brazil and the Netherlands inthis respect? This, the last, workshop of the conference had three presentations,which explored the role of the State and the police in promoting security.

Dr. José Vicente Tavares (UFRGS) drew a historical picture of public security poli-cies in Brazil over the last decade. During the Cardoso government (1996-2002),a participatory process between the government and human rights groups led toa new series of public security programs. Although the José Ignácio Lula da Silvagovernment (since 2003) has adopted another National Public Security Plan,adding new goals to policy, less has improved in terms of security. In fact, therehas been an increase in violence at different levels in and regions of the coun-try. Focusing on new perspectives of policing in Brazil, Dr. Tavares suggested thata new notion of citizenship security needs to be introduced, and that some basicproblems need to be solved, such as the management of police organizations, thecompetency disputes between various police forces, the regulation of privatesecurity firms, the eradication of corrupt practices, and the training of policeofficers.

Dr. Jorge Zaverucha (UFPE) gave an overview of the organization of the Braziliancriminal justice system, showing the several steps, stages, and procedures per-formed by different organs. He pointed out that the system for the applicationof penal provisions in Brazil has an unusual format – known as “hybrid” or“mixed” – with chief officers having a lot of power. State conduct is divided intotwo distinct phases: administrative and judicial. It is commonly said that such asystem begins to work the moment a prosecutor denounces a crime to the court.In this view, only the criminal justice system should prepare cases, while thepromotion of penal action should be reserved for the public prosecutor. However,Dr. Zaverucha showed that the practice differs from the theory. Both the feder-al judiciary police (federal police) and the state judiciary police (civil police)end up performing a bit of everything. Dr. Zaverucha also observed that legalprocess in Brazil is an obligation of the State, not a right of the citizens.Proceedings cannot be interrupted even if the accused stop defending them-selves. If a citizen realizes that the authorities conducting a police inquiry are

7.

Pa

ulo

Fr

eir

e

Pro

gra

m

creating juridical incertitude, there is no way out. The only thing to do is bearthe burden of the State until all juridical proceedings are over.

Dr. Luiz Alberto Gonçalves (UFMG) analyzed the accountability of the policeinstitutions’ actions regarding their relationship with the population in generalsince the initiatives that have been taken by the Office of Integrity andAccountability of the Police of the State of Minas Gerais. He examined the rela-tionships between the Office of Integrity and Accountability, the public ministry,and the police magistrate offices, as well as aspects that have created obstacleswhich impede the transparency of police actions. He painted in broad strokes thestrategies adopted by the Office of Integrity and Accountability to improve itsrelationship with its institutional partners and to enhance how it serves the com-munity. Over the five-year period 1998-2003, the office received 3000 com-plaints, but only 100 were dealt with satisfactorily.

Due to the unforeseen absence of Prof. Hans Boutellier, there was no discussantat this workshop, but the chair – Prof. Leo Huberts – opened the discussion bydrawing comparisons with the Dutch situation with respect to ideals of efficien-cy and the formation of professional policing. Crime clear-up rates are low,albeit for different reasons. The organization of a police force and the trainingof police officers are fundamental in all models of policing, and a major obsta-cle to a well functioning force is corruption within the force and a lack of con-trol by society. New definitions of violence and holistic approaches towards theformation of security, including prevention and police moralization, are needed.Prof. Huberts said he is interested in the consequences of processes of politicalchange in Brazil, with respect to notions of citizenship and the consequences ofdemocratization for the police force.

Other events and activities

UERJ

Research Exchange Project “Religion and dislocation: comparative studies”appro-ved by CNPq (National Scientific Brazilian Council). Last April, CNPqawarded a grant to the research project “Religion and dislocation: comparativestudies” of the research group on Religion at UERJ and members affiliated withthe PFP. The objective of the project is to understand the relationship betweendifferent transits of individuals and identities in contemporary society, relatedto migratory processes. Researchers from UERJ, UFRGS, and VUA are participat-ing in the project.

UFMG

Brazilian Society of Sociology (BSS). The Brazilian Society of Sociology Congresswill take place on May 31-June 3, 2005, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Duringthe Congress, there will be workgroups and mini-conferences organized by stu-dents and researchers who are members of PFP. A roundtable organized by Dr.Alexandre Cardoso (UFMG) on “Youth and Religion” will bring togetherresearchers from UFMG, UFPE, UERJ, and UFRGS.

8.

Pa

ulo

Fr

eir

e

Pro

gra

m

UFRGS

XIII Journeys on Religious Alternatives in Latin America. The Mercosul SocialScientists of Religion Association (ACSRM), the PUCRS Post-Graduate Program inSocial Sciences, and the UFRGS Post-Graduate Program in Social Anthropologyare organizing the XIII Journeys on Religious Alternatives in Latin America, onSeptember 27-30, 2005, at PUCRS central campus, in Porto Alegre. The centraltheme of the XIII Journeys is “Religion, Power, and Politics: new actors and con-texts in Latin America.” The meetings will comprise three keynote lectures, nineroundtables, nine workgroups, and the showing of ethnographic films.

VUA

Brazil Seminar. On April 11, Dr. Clara Mafra (UERJ) commented on the documen-tary “News from a Private War,” which was shown during the Brazil Seminarseries at VUA. Dr. Mafra was carrying out anthropological fieldwork in DonaMarta, the slum in which the documentary was filmed, at the time of the film-ing. On February 24, 2005, Dr. Els Jacob (VUA) gave a lecture on “Gender andPower in South Brazilian Base Communities,” and on November 23, 2004, drs. Anavan Meegen (VUA) talked about the “Kalunga – identity and ethnicity in Goiás,Brazil” during the Brazil Seminar series. On October 21, 2004, “The politics ofsocial movements and the agrarian question in Brazil: exploring the LandlessPeasant Movement MST” was presented by drs. Imre Petry (Institute of SocialStudies).

Change and Idea Management. On March 30, 2005, a meeting on “Change andIdea Management” was organized by PFP and the Department of Culture,Organization, and Management (COM). Madiana Rodrigues (an anthropologistfrom UFPE) and Han Bakker (a sociologist from VUA) presented related to theirPhD research.

Student Mobility

Student exchange is an important objec-tive of PFP. In September 2004, two stu-dents from Belo Horizonte went toAmsterdam and three from VUA went toRecife. Since January 2005, one studentfrom UERJ has gone to VUA, two studentsfrom VUA have gone to UERJ, and one from VUA has gone to UFMG. In the fol-lowing, Pedro Lima (UERJ) and Christian Laheij (VUA) recount their personalexperiences as exchange students.

Pedro Lima: Expectations and Experiences of a Brazilian Studentat VUA

While thinking about the best way to start this account of my personal experi-ence as an exchange student at VUA, it occurred to me that maybe the mostinteresting way would be to begin not with the experience itself, but with theexpectations that preceded it. The whole experience and the way in which onegrasps it depends heavily on one’s prior expectations – and I assume that thisencounter (which can be pleasant or noisy) between expectation and experience

9.

Pa

ulo

Fr

eir

e

Pro

gra

m

is what remains with us as memories and impressions. So, in a sense, it is the gapbetween expectations and experience that I was going to write about.

But the attempt to begin was immediately obstructed by a problem: How was Isupposed to write about something that is not yet finished? As I am now in themiddle of the experience, constantly living the gap mentioned above, this reportwill necessarily be partial and – who knows? – might be very different from myfinal impression. This text, then, starts with the assumption that a clear person-al impression of a set of experiences can only be achieved post factum.Therefore, this account is essentially and unmistakably incomplete.

Having put these methodological issues aside, I shall begin from the beginning.My desire to study at VUA relates intrinsically to a twofold curiosity: First, my“need” to experience another life. The chance to live in a foreign city, sur-rounded by foreign people and foreign costumes, appealed to me as a unique wayof transcending my familiar way of acting and being. In other words, it was notonly a chance to discover different people, places, and habits: My feeling wasthat this would affect my own subjectivity, changing it in a positive way, enriching it by the imperative of having to respond to different stimuli.

Second, there was the more academic side of my expectations. I thought thatstudying abroad would be a determinant factor for constructing a more solidsociological and political standpoint. “Escaping” the Brazilian academic contextand its ideologies and habits could be, for me, the best way of inserting this con-text in the bigger international scenario and of identifying its qualities and prob-lems – always with the intention of returning home with these impressions. Also,I must admit that these expectations were a little polluted by the old petit bour-geois’ idolatry of everything that is foreign (this form of idolatry is very commonamong the Brazilian middle classes). I naively thought that this exchange wouldmean that I would be attending better classes, with better teachers and with amore philosophically rooted approach to the social sciences.

Thus, having painted the expectations, I shall show how they were confrontedwith reality. Despite the difficulties of formulating a satisfactory personal viewon this experience, I do have some aspects that are interesting to share. At thepersonal level, this exchange has lots to offer. The most obvious relates to theopportunity to live in a different country – a situation that demands a lot ofadaptability, especially when it comes to communication. At the same time, it isinteresting to see how universalized some habits are which at first one mightrelate only to the home country. In this sense, globalization is deeply felt and,most of the time, what would in advance be thought of as a chance for culturalexchange becomes a chance to perceive the magnitude of the globalizationprocess.

Life in the University’s guesthouse is also filled with a certain homogeneity.Although it is an interesting and enriching experience to live in a building full offoreign people, I have the feeling that everyone is pretty much the same aseveryone else, and that even though there is a level of cultural exchange, it issubstantially lower than the level of cultural homogeneity. Thus, the expectationof “upgrading” my own subjectivity has been only partially reflected in the realexperience. But even if one cannot help but feel disappointment about a non-realized expectation, there is always a way in which this feeling contributes toenriching one’s perception.

10.

Pa

ulo

Fr

eir

e

Pro

gra

m

On the academic level, the gap is still there. My petit bourgeois feeling wasprobably the first to vanish. Neither the classes nor the teachers are better thanthose at the UERJ. In fact, although everyone has a personal taste and prefersthis or that, it is essential to overcome the “worse/better” approach, and tothink in terms of similarities/differences. In this sense, for me, studying at VUArepresents a singular chance to better understand the good and the bad aspectsof UERJ in particular, and of the Brazilian educational system in general.

Furthermore, I would like to stress the need to maintain and intensify the stu-dent exchanges, at the Bachelor level, within the Paulo Freire Program. As some-one who is now in the middle of the process, I see this as a decisive opportunityat both the personal and the professional level. In this sense, it is important thatthe institutions involved find ways of complementing the students’ funding (thePaulo Freire scholarship does not cover all the expenses). Since the 19th century, for the Brazilians, to study abroad is a privilege of theelites that can afford it – and the reproduction of this reality has to end. My tripwas possible only because of my family’s good financial situation; my presenceat this moment as a VUA student relies heavily on this fact. With that in mind, Ihope that all the educational institutions involved can find a way to overcomethis “money intromission” which, in education as in every other sphere of sociallife, ends up being the determinant factor.

Christian Laheij: Of These Happy People

“Could you write a pequeno texto [short text] about your experiences as anexchange student from VUA to UERJ? Your opinion on the advantages and disad-vantages of such an exchange would be especially interesting.”

At first I was hesitant to accept this invitation, for I suppose I’m not a typicalexchange student and I wouldn’t want to distort the picture. Of course, I go outdancing every night, drink too many caipirinhas, sometimes even study a littlebit and do all the other things exchange students supposedly do. My main reasonto be in Rio, however, is to do research for my Master’s thesis in Anthropology.Studying at UERJ for me is like a valuable extra: it gives me easy access to theknowledge and opinions of experts. But then maybe I am a typical student of thePaulo Freire Program. Isn’t the program after all about combining “cooperationin education” with “cooperation in research”?

So, first the advantages. Being Dutch, I’ll start with the weather. The week afterI arrived in Rio, Holland had record snowfalls – the heaviest in at least 50 years.And that’s saying something. Second, the people. I guess Rio is the only city inthe world where you need to wear a tee-shirt that asks Oi cara, eu te conheço?(“Hi, guy, do I know you?”). Third, the university. It’s a relief to find out thateven when classes lack a fixed venue, professors and students still manage tomeet one another. On a more serious note, I really enjoy the classes at UERJ. Tome, the professors are very skilled in connecting theoretical material to currentaffairs, and the students participate actively. What else? The beaches, of course.And being there when Fluminense wins the Brazilian Championship. And learningto enjoy life the way the cariocas (inhabitants of Rio) enjoy it. Yes, to anybodywho’s considering participating in the student exchange of the Paulo FreireProgram, I guess that’s what they can look forward to.

Now, the disadvantages. This is more difficult. In fact, I can’t think of any. Oh,except perhaps feijão. I really can’t understand the Brazilians’ habit of mixing

11.

Pa

ulo

Fr

eir

e

Pro

gra

m

virtually everything. Music, yes – but food? You eat French fries, or you eat rice,or you eat beans, but you simply don’t throw all the food you can think of on oneplate and mix it up. That’s not food, that’s – well, gross. But apart from that …I don’t know. To quote Ary Barroso: Rio de Janeiro, gosto de você. Gosto de quemgosta. Desse céu, desse mar, dessa gente feliz (“Rio de Janeiro, I love you. I lovewho loves. This sky, this sea, these happy people”).

PFP Business Meeting

During the last Paulo Freire Program Research Meeting, the members of the net-work met to discuss the future of the network and the activities to be organized.Dr. Marjo de Theije opened the meeting by summarizing the main goals of theprogram for the benefit of those who were participating for the first time. Topicsdiscussed included teacher exchange, the PFP house style, the publication of theresults of the research meeting, the planning of the upcoming research meet-ings, and student exchange.

Teacher exchange. So far there have not been any teacher exchanges. Brazilianuniversities have an elaborate program of visiting professorships that could beused for this; VUA has no such funding system, although funding might be pro-vided in individual cases. The best way to proceed is make individual arrange-ments between the partner universities, but please use the expertise of theProgram to do so. More information can be found in Newsletter no. 2(http://www.fsw.vu.nl/english/pfp).

PFP house style. The VUA team presented the CD-ROM containing the PFP housestyle to be used for letters, posters, websites, the Newsletter, etc. Each mem-ber of the Program received a template to use for local PFP activities and forcorrespondence on behalf of the Program. The house style is intended to reflectthe colorful identity of the PFP and to highlight our common program.

Publication. Publishing the results of this research meeting is an important taskfor next year. As decided at earlier meetings, the publishing strategy of PFP is tocreate a series of books with an internationally recognized (peer-reviewed) pub-lishing house. Ideally, each research meeting, with contributions from Brazilianand Dutch researchers specialized in a common theme, will lead to a book in thePFP series. The first edited volume will be based on the contributions presentedduring the “Safety without Borders” Research Meeting. Dr. Parry Scott and Dr.Jorge Zaverucha (both UFPE) volunteered to organize this edition. Researchersshould submit their revised papers to them before June 15, 2005. The Dutch PFPteam will try to make contacts with publishers.

Planning. The next two meetings of the Program were planned at the BusinessMeeting in September 2004 (see “Agenda”). However, all researchers who par-ticipated in the Research Meeting in April 2005 felt that the discussion on“Human security and violence” needs to be continued. So the idea arose to haveanother meeting on the topic in Brazil, in September 2006. The organization ofthis research meeting will be in the hands of PFP committee UFPE.

Student exchange. Ms. Saskia Bleijendaal (VUA International Relations Officer)joined us to talk about matters related to student exchange. She explained thegeneral procedures for students who wish to take part in the exchange program.An important observation was that Brazilian students should plan well in

12.

Pa

ulo

Fr

eir

e

Pro

gra

m

advance, to give them time to obtain a temporary visa and arrange a place tostay. A study guide containing all the relevant information and course descrip-tions was handed to each partner university. Ms. Bleijendaal also called atten-tion to the fact that Dutch undergraduate students at Brazilian universities mightneed some help in, for example, figuring out how to register for courses.

Agenda

September 27-30, 2005: 3rd Paulo Freire Program Research Meeting organized bythe local team of UFRGS, in Porto Alegre. For more information, email Dr. CarlosSteil (coordinator PFP UFRGS), casteil@uol.com.br.

April 2006: 4th Paulo Freire Program Research Meeting, on “Media and SocialMovements,” to be organized by the UFMG PFP committee; email Dr. RousileyMaia, rousiley@fafich.ufmg.br; Dr. Cor Stralen, stralen@medicina.ufmg.br; Dr.Claudio Beato, beato@dedalus.lcc.ufmg.br, or Dr. Luiz Alberto Gonçalves,laog@task.com.br.

September 2006 : 5th Paulo Freire Program Research Meeting, on Security andViolence, to be organized by UFPE PFP committee; email Dr. Parry Scott,Scott@hotlink.com.br, or Dr. Jorge Zaverrucha, jorgezaverucha@uol.com.br.

Photo Reference

Urban security in a comparative perspectiveDr. Ignácio Cano, Dr. Harry Wels and André StadingWorkshop “Poverty, drugs, and organized crimeDr. Damian ZaitchWorkshop “Religion, violence, and securityDr. Oscar Salamink, Dr. Parry Scott, Dr. Clara Jost Mafra, Dr. Edien Bartels andProf. Birgit Meyer Workshop “ Police accountability and integrityDr. Jorge ZaveruchaStudent MobilityPedro Lima and Lucas Carvalho