Roberta S. Pamplona, PhD

Office: B349S

Phone: 403-440-8421

Email: rpamplona@mtroyal.ca 

Website: https://www.robertapamplona.com 

Education:

Ph.D. in Sociology with a Collaborative Specialization in Women & Gender Studies, University of Toronto, Canada

M.A. Sociology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

B.A. Law, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Research profile:

My research examines how social movement ideas move through political contexts and shape state responses to violence and injustice, how racialized and economic ideologies influence these processes, and what these dynamics mean for activism on the ground. Specifically, my book project investigates the feminist politics surrounding the Feminicídio Law in Brazil, a feminist-inspired legal reform addressing the killing of women and girls. I situate this analysis within global dynamics, including the rise of anti-gender discourses and the expansion of carceral policies. By linking these broader trends to activists’ discourses and practices, I expand our understanding of how we theorize the political afterlife of lawmaking targeting violence. The project examines the contradictions and dilemmas of feminist praxis in relation to violence, social justice, and social inequalities. This research has been recognized with awards from the Law & Society Association (LSA) and the Canadian Sociological Association (CSA). I am currently starting a project about the travel of the category femicide/feminicide to Canada.

My teaching reflects my commitments as a feminist and postcolonial scholar. My pedagogical approach proposes an engagement of sociology with history, including its own history as a discipline, recognizing that academia has often perpetuated inaccuracies and silences, particularly by devaluing knowledge created outside formal academic spaces. In my classroom, I encourage students to trace connections between course materials and personal experiences by engaging with diverse sources—such as movies, social movement zines, and memoirs—that are central to contemporary debates. My courses emphasize the global historical processes that underpin local dynamics of victimization, criminalization, and political mobilizations against violence.

In addition to my research, I collaborate with colleagues in Canada and Latin America on projects examining the dynamics of violence and struggles for rights in Brazil. I am also working on a project about the contemporary strategies of Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra).

Teaching Interests:

Introduction to Sociology, Contemporary Social Theory, Sociology of Violence, Political Sociology, Law & Society, Critical Criminology, Feminist and Postcolonial Theories, and Social Movements.

Selected Publications:

Pamplona, R. S. 2025. Reframing Feminist Ideas, Challenging State Incorporation: Activism Against Violence and the Feminicídio Law in Brazil. Gender & Society, 39(1), 35-62. https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241304768

Pamplona, R. S. 2024. Symbolic and Transformative: Alignments Toward Feminicídio Legal Reform inside the Brazilian Police. Social Politics, 31(1), 99–122. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxad019​