ABSTRACT
Aft er almost a decade of collaboration, in 1992, the MMTR accepted a request from SOS Corpo to be part of a transnational research project on reproductive rights. SOS staff came out to the sertão to hold focus groups and conduct interviews with members of the MMTR from seven municipalities in the central sertão, eliciting tales about their experiences of sexuality, reproduction, and gender relations. A team of Brazilian researchers, including SOS members, analyzed their fi ndings, in conjunction with data from studies of domestic workers in Rio de Janeiro and housewives in the bairros of São Paulo. Th eir research on working-class Brazilian women’s experiences was later published in a book, which was coordinated by a U.S.-based academic and an NGO consultant and included material from seven countries around the world.1 Th e article from Brazil theorized working-class experiences, making them accessible to academic audiences outside the country. SOS received national and international recognition for its work, made possible through its connection with the MMTR in the sertão. In recognition of the rural women’s contribution, in 1996 the NGO “translated” its conclusions into accessible language, and staff members took them back to the sertão where they used the methodology of popular education to share them with their research subjects.
