“Juventude que ousa lutar constrói poder popular”: argumentação e multimodalidade em debates do Levante Popular da Juventude

Abstract

This research seeks to investigate how argumentation is constructed – through the integration of multiple modes – by participants of the Levante Popular da Juventude (Popular Youth Uprising) in the observed interactions of the movement in the city of Juiz de Fora. The Levante Popular da Juventude is a national youth social movement that strives for the construction of a popular project for Brazil, offering counter-hegemonic alternatives to the colonial and capitalist system. In this dissertation, I have the following specific objectives: a) to describe the dynamics of the debates developed within the context of this youth social movement; b) to examine the role played by argumentative operators and discursive modalizers in shaping participants' persuasion; c) to analyze how the articulation of multiple modes, focusing on intonation and kinesic elements, contributes to the joint construction of stances and the feeling of belonging of militants to the movement. Considering my dual role as researcher and participant of the group studied, I adopt a qualitative, interpretivist (auto)ethnographic approach (ANDRÉ, 2013; MOITA LOPES, 1994; PAIVA, 2019; VERSIANI, 2002), employing methods such as participant observation and audiovisual data generation. Furthermore, for data analysis, I draw on tools from the studies of Discourse Genres (BAKHTIN & VOLÓCHINOV [1929] 1997; [1929] 2016; BRAIT, 2005; 2006), Social Semiotics (KRESS & VAN LEEUWEN, 2001; 2010), and Argumentation (PERELMAN & OLBRECHTS-TYTECA, 2005; KOCH, [1993] 2021). Based on the reflections carried out during the research, it was observed that the analyzed debates do not prototypically follow the format of a structured debate. The discursive sphere in which the participants are situated tends to condition them to remodel the genre in a more dynamic and fluid way, in order to achieve the goal of political education and the persuasion of young participants. Furthermore, it was found that argumentative operators and discursive modalizers play an essential role in shaping opinions, sometimes making the argument more imposing by reinforcing the certainty of the stance, and sometimes making it more suggestive, thereby opening space for interpretations or more flexible adherence by the interlocutors. Finally, it was observed that the participants make use of multiple modes in constructing their arguments, particularly regarding the persuasion of interlocutors and the articulation of stances, with an emphasis on intonation and kinesic elements.