Bare Humanity of Barely Humans: uncovering vulnerability

Currently a DCGC Candidate (2015-2018) at University of Kent & University of Hamburg, my research interest lies on the concept of vulnerability and the practice of human rights courts. Having a background in Law (BCL University of São Paulo; LLM University College London), I aim to bring an interdisciplinary approach to explore the promising intertwinements between on the one hand, feminist-informed criminology and on the other hand, human rights theory and praxis. From a social-constructionist perspective, I will attempt to examine the processes whereby vulnerable individuals and victims are labeled as such and by the same token, how those who are not deemed as particularly vulnerable or victims are then perceived by society and the State. I am also keen on understanding the in-depth implications of vulnerability’s conceptual ambivalences and their potentially disruptive power in theory and practice. In this endeavor, I am particularly interested in the power mechanisms underlying label-assigning practices and the social justice implications of an implicit exclusionary Cartesian logic deriving thereof, analyzing the extent to which law and State institutions may oppressively aggravate the vulnerability of some individuals by rights-conferring and rights-curtailing practices.