Final Podcast: The Elementary Forms of Aaron Ansell (9/8/25)

For this—our final episode-- Sylvia interviews Aaron about his recent book, The Elementary Forms of Corruption: Moral Imagination and Political Change in Brazil (Hau Books, 2025). We talk about corruption in Brazil and especially about the shifting "folk models" of corruption (as Aaron calls them) that rural Brazilians use to apprehend moral transgressions. Sylvia calls on Aaron to unpack his wordy and confusing definition of corruption, "the degradation of a sacred gradient through the transgressive rerouting of a social currency," which Aaron does to really nobody's satisfaction. Then, Aaron talks about the four different "moments" of corruption that he traces from the 1950s through PT-led progressive era, all the way through the Bolsonaro era. Finally, a teary goodbye to each other and to you all.