Camila Jourdan

Camila Aparecida Rodrigues Jourdan^[1] was born in 1980^[2] and is originally from the northern part of Rio de Janeiro.^[2] Her grandfather was a general in the Brazilian army.^[2] Fatherless at the age of 12,^[2] she had a daughter in 2001 or 2002.^[2] After studying philosophy at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and the Sorbonne in Paris, she defended her thesis on Ludwig Wittgenstein,^[2] her master thesis was called "How a rule connects with its applications: the problem of 'infinite determination' in the philosophy of the second Wittgenstein"^[3] and her doctoral thesis was called "Impredicativity, Generality and the Development of Wittgenstein's Thought".^[3]

She began teaching at the Rio de Janeiro State University as an assistant professor at first, and later as a full professor.^[2]

In 2014, during the protests that shook Brazil in opposition to the hosting of the FIFA World Cup, in which she was actively involved, she was targeted by Brazilian security forces and portrayed as one of the leaders of the social movement. Her apartment, which she shared with her then-partner, Igor D'Icarahy, was searched by the police without a warrant.^[4][5] After finding fireworks and other items there, and finding messages referring to pencils, she was accused of planning to create Molotov cocktails and subsequently arrested.^[4] The indictment was weak and even included individuals such as Mikhail Bakunin, one of the founding thinkers of anarchism, who died in 1876.^[6][7] After being imprisoned for 12 days at Bangu prison during the protests, she was quickly released pending her trial.^[8] Facing these accusations, she received significant support from the Brazilian academic community, which mobilized to defend her and expressed concern about the implications for the political opinions of Brazilian scholars.^[9][10]

Initially sentenced to six years in prison, she was ultimately fully acquitted in 2024 by the Supreme Federal Court.^[4]