# Richard Miskolci

Richard Miskolci is a Brazilian sociologist. He is Full Professor of Sociology at UNIFESP (Federal University of São Paulo) (Federal University of São Paulo), Brazil, and also a researcher of CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development). Miskolci is the leader of the Research Center Quereres.
He initiated his career dealing with Critical Theory, but contact with the works of Michel Foucault and Cultural Studies attracted his attention to the field of differences. Miskolci has researched in Germany and was a Student-at-large in the humanities at the University of Chicago before receiving his PhD in Sociology from University of São Paulo (2001). He was tenured as a professor of sociology at UFSCar Federal University of São Carlos, where he worked between 2004 and 2018.
Miskolci has contributed to disseminate Queer Theory in the Brazilian academic field in a dialogue with its own tradition of sexuality studies, especially those created under the influence of Néstor Perlongher's work. Miskolci has edited (with Júlio Assis Simões) the first Brazilian compilation of Queer Studies. "Dissent Sexualities" (2007) received the Award Citizenship in Respect to Diversity (2008).
Brazilian sexuality studies and activism is marked by identitarian tendencies while Miskolci's work supports a non-identitary perspective based on queer and gender theories. Gender defies identity as a concept that underlines the importance of social structures (both cultural and historical ones) defining our desires and self-comprehension. Miskolci's work stands in opposition to crude identity politics as well as studies based on the illusion of a stable subject/identity.
Miskolci collaborated with David M. Halperin to develop the methodology for his historical research on nation and desire in the Brazilian fin de siècle. The research was conducted during over 10 years with different grants until it became a book: O Desejo da Nação: masculinidade e branquitude no Brasil de fins do XIX (2012). In this work, he analyses the Brazilian elite project of creating a nation with European immigrants and also disciplining the local population. The ideals of whiteness and masculinity of the ruling elite directed this authoritarian project during the first decades of the Brazilian Republic (proclaimed in 1889).
In 2011, Miskolci was one of the creators of Contemporânea - Revista de Sociologia da UFSCar. Between 2014 and 2018 he worked in the coordination of Sociology at CAPES, the Brazilian agency that manages the graduate system. He is also a member of the Research Committee Futures Research of the International Sociological Association (ISA) and of the TG Digital Sociology of the Brazilian Sociological Society (SBS).
Miskolci has researched the contemporary use of digital media in Brazilian society since 2007. This research, sponsored by CNPq and FAPESP, became his main area of interest. In 2016 he has organized the first Brazilian compilation on Digital Sociology and also founded the Thematic Group Digital Sociology at the Brazilian Sociological Association. In 2017, he published Desejos Digitais: uma análise sociológica da busca por parceiros on-line, a book that summarizes his researchers about how homosexual men use digital media to search for sexual partners.
One of his main themes of research became how the use of online social networks helped to frame the Brazilian public sphere in moral terms. In 2021, Miskolci published Batalhas Morais: política indenttária na esfera pública técnico midiatizada, a book in which he analyzes how both identity politics and right-wing adversaries work under a common framework that has led to social polarization, authoritarianism and censorship impoverishing and corroding the conditions for democratic debate.
In the beginning of this decade, Miskolci was involved in international research on political polarization in Latin America. Since then he has focused on studies about health disinformation. Miskolci received a CAPES senior researcher fellowship to spend a year at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid comparing the Brazilian and the Spaniard cases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Publication list

* Miskolci, Richard. Thomas Mann, o Artista Mestiço. São Paulo: Annablume/FAPESP, 2003.
* _________________. (editor) Normalidade, Desvio, Differenças In: Teoria & Pesquisa. São Carlos: PPGCS, 2005.
* Miskolci, Richard. O desejo da nação: masculinidade e branquitude no Brasil de fins do XIX. São Paulo: Annablume/FAPESP, 2012.
* _________________. Scavone, Lucila; Alvarez, M. C. (editors) O Legado de Foucault. São Paulo: Editora Unesp/FAPESP, 2006.
* _________________. Simões, Júlio Assis. (editors) "Sexualidades Disparatadas" In: Cadernos Pagu Campinas: Pagu-UNICAMP, 2007.
* Miskolci, Richard. (editor) "Marcas da Diferença no Ensino Escolar". São Carlos: EdUFSCar, 2010.
* Miskolci, Richard & Pelúcio, Larissa. Discursos fora da ordem: sexualidades, saberes e direitos. São Paulo: FAPESP/Annablume, 2012.
* Miskolci, Richard. Teoria Queer: um aprendizado pelas diferenças. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 2012.
* Miskolci, Richard & Leite Júnior, Jorge. Diferenças na Educação: outros aprendizados. São Carlos: Edufscar, 2014.
* Miskolci, Richard (June 2015). "'Discreet and out of the gay scene' - notes on contemporary sexual visibility". Cadernos Pagu (44): 61–90. doi:10.1590/1809-4449201500440061.
* "Dossiê Sociologia Digital organizado por Richard Miskolci" [Digital Sociology Dossier organized by Richard Miskolci]. Contemporânea (in Portuguese).
* Miskolci, Richard. Desejos Digitais: uma análise sociológica da busca por parceiros online. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 2017.
* Miskolci, Richard (17 December 2019). "The Moral Crusade on 'Gender Ideology': notes on conservative political alliances in Latin America". Sociologies in Dialogue. 4 (2): 45–59. doi:10.20336/sid.v4i2.99 (inactive 1 November 2024). Archived from the original on 1 June 2020.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
* Machado, Jorge; Miskolci, Richard (December 2019). "Das Jornadas de junho à cruzada moral: o papel das redes sociais na polarização política brasileira" [From the June demonstrations to the moral crusade: the role of social media networks in political polarization]. Sociologia & Antropologia (in Spanish). 9 (3): 945–970. doi:10.1590/2238-38752019v9310.
* Miskolci, Richard. Batalhas morais: política identitária na esfera pública técnico-midiatizada. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 2021.
* Miskolci, Richard. Beyond science denialism: disinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sociologias, v.25, 2023.https://doi.org/10.1590/18070337-123090EN
* Miskolci, Richard & Balieiro, Fernando F. The Moralization of Politics in Brazil. International Sociology, v.38, n.4, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809231180879