The Times Have Not (Completely) Changed: Allegory, Divine Difference, and Political Ambivalence in post-Bolsonaro Brazil

In this paper, I show that in post-Bolsonaro Brazil, where Bolsonarismo continues to affect communities despite Bolsonaro’s 2022 electoral defeat, we can find continuities within the sense of change. Specifically, both senses of persistence and senses of change can be found in the recurrence of an allegorical way of seeing used to orient action: a temporal, spatial, and Christian reckoning (but not only Christian) that looks out for how God, the devil, and evil entities operate in human time. What is unique about Post-Bolsonaro Brazil, at least for the settler Amazonians I work with, is that many feel that others are interpreting the allegorical signs in inappropriate ways. While the discussion of allegory builds on my recent book, I extend that discussion with new ethnography about allegorical reversals under Bolsonaro, which offer insight into the new times animated by age-old temporal and spatial practices and political ambivalences.