PhD defense of Jéssica de Fátima Rossone Alves, March12, 2026, 10 a.m.
The Space and Power Research Group invites you to attend the PhD defense of Jéssica de Fátima Rossone Alves.
The research critically analyzes Brazilian railway infrastructure, understanding it as a form of autonomous fixed capital and investigating how its management is articulated with processes of capital accumulation and the production of territory.
Taking the Southeast Regional Network as its object, the dissertation examines the first 30 years of railway infrastructure concession (1996–2026), with special attention to the early renewal of the concession authorized in 2022. The study analyzes how the privatizing management of the railway redefines the relationships between infrastructure, the public sector, and the territories crossed by the railway line.
With an empirical focus on Barra do Piraí (RJ)—an important railway junction within the network—the research highlights conflicts and territorial impacts associated with railway operations and investments linked to the concession renewal. The thesis argues that this model reinforces processes of infrastructure financialization and selective regionalization of investments, subordinating local territorial dynamics to broader logistical and economic strategies, while simultaneously placing the railway in dispute as a potentially emancipatory infrastructure for territories.
📍 Date: March 12, 2026
⏰ Time: 10:00 AM
💻 Format: Remote (videoconference)
📩 The virtual room link will be provided upon request sent to the Space and Power Research Group email.
