We’ve completed the ethnographic research work for Nike and the result is a beautiful, 400-page book on football culture in Latin America. This book is a study of football culture among teens in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. The research sought to capture how football as a sport greatly influence the daily lives of youngsters in both urban and rural settings, and helped the client strengthen its understanding of and relationship with its consumers.

The Brazilian Dream (O Sonho Brasileiro) is the title of an extensive, qualitative study of young Brazilians. The objective for this study is to understand the generation of 18-24 year olds, including its values, dreams, and desires. This generation is the first to grow up in a hyper-connected world, and in a period of significant domestic economic growth. The study is based on 1,200 interviews from across the entire country and from all social groups. I contributed to the project with visual ethnography from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Porto Alegre. A central part of the commission was a documentation of 25 case-studies. Here, we followed respondents over time, and documented their lives in their own environments, including at home and with their families. The case-studies we selected are all actively engaged in contributing to society in a positive way. The study was produced by BOX1824, a Brazilian boutique consumer research company, and the entire 400-page report is available for download in portuguese from this link.

Below is a selection of pages from the website and the PDF report.

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Over the last six months I’ve been traveling throughout Brazil to photograph Brazilian youth for a new, upcoming book. ‘The Brazilian Dream’ is a portrayal of the rising new generation Brazilians, with focus on their dreams and desires. We’ve made a huge, qualitative research in four Brazilian cities; São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Porto Alegre. The final report will include 25 case studies of ‘transformers’ – young people from all social groups, who are working passionately to improve their country. The research is made by BOX1824, and the report will later be part of a bigger, more extensive research on youth culture and consumer behavior across the Emerging Markets called The BRIC Project.

Brazil is undergoing an enormous transformation these days. For the last 10 years it has had an annual growth in GDP of 4 pct. Traveling through the country you see with your own eyes how the country is rising from poverty and transforming into a very modern country. Forget the times with government corruption and destitution. This rich country is getting stronger and wealthier every day.

Webcitizen, a new Brazilian company, aims to create citizen awareness and involvement in government projects, using Web 2.0 technologies.

Web 2.0 refers to what is perceived as a second generation of web development and web design. It is characterized as facilitating communication, information sharing, user-centered design and collaboration on the Web. Examples include social-networking sites, wikis, blogs etc.

We were commissioned to travel for 30 days through the state of Minas Gerais to document all the new developments within schools, hospitals, infrastructure, constructions. We drove 6000 km and visited 22 cities.

We met and photographed the citizens of Minas Gerais whose lives is undergoing a huge transformation.

We saw with our own eyes that the Government had indeed kept its promise, exceeded it in some facets, and we visually captured this panorama for a larger audience successfully.

Click here to see all the images from Minas Gerais

At BOLA Sociology Design, we’re planning to publish a printed magazine every half year. Over the past 5 months, I’ve been working on and off on the first issue which will uncover the street-basket culture in Brazil. The Street-basket culture is a interesting cultural manifestation started in North American suburbs among black youngsters. In the beginning it was as a kind of resistance and exaltation of their black inheritance. In Brazil, where Streetball is closely related to the Hip Hop movement, the search for the African background restores, in many ways, the self confidence in young suburban kids. It gives them a social role in which they feel integrated to a much broader community. Trying to understand such culture is a way to investigate how the black culture, which is so important to the Brazilian formation, manifests itself and interacts with other social manifestations in the country. Working with an anthologist, a journalist and a graphic designer, the first issue will be out Q1 2008.