{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T11:51:23Z","timestamp":1791546683429,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":61,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780012800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780012800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000155","name":"Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Insight Development Grant, Worker-Owned Intersecti"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Insight Development Grant, Worker-Owned Intersecti"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000155","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000155","name":"Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Partnership Engage Grant, Digital Sovereignty Arch"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Partnership Engage Grant, Digital Sovereignty Arch"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000155","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This article traces the ongoing construction of \u201cpopular digital sovereignty\u201d within Brazil\u2019s Homeless Workers\u2019 Movement (MTST), through its Tech Sector, arguing that the concept itself operates as a digital real utopia: an aspirational horizon made workable through imperfect and situated practice. Rather than treating digital sovereignty as a state-centric policy project, the movement frames popular digital sovereignty as a from-below definition forged through epistemic sovereignty, the collective control over how knowledge is produced, debated, and circulated inside and beyond the movement. Drawing on a workers\u2019 inquiry approach conducted since 2021, including interviews, observations, workshops, and co-produced materials, the article analyzes how the MTST\u2019s Tech Sector develops this concept through learning in struggle: iterative trial-and-error, learning by doing, and continuous revision in response to the material constraints of organizing. We show how popular digital sovereignty is assembled through territorial and class-based priorities, and how its meaning shifts as the movement grapples with the role of the state, infrastructural dependency, and the need to \u201cmeet workers where they are.\u201d The article contributes to digital sovereignty studies and utopian media studies by conceptualizing popular digital sovereignty as an epistemic practice and a prefigurative, unfinished project, an effort to build tech otherwise from below under conditions of constraint.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/13548565261456920","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T17:34:45Z","timestamp":1780076085000},"page":"1539-1556","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Popular digital sovereignty and digital real utopias: Lessons from the Homeless Workers\u2019 Movement in Brazil"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"32","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1063-8668","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rafael","family":"Grohmann","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Arts, Culture and Media & Faculty of Information, University of Toronto"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alexandre","family":"Costa Barbosa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Design, University of Arts Berlin"},{"name":"Homeless Workers\u2019 Movement"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.14763\/2026.1.2075"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.70064\/mt.v3i1.964"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.28968\/cftt.v6i2.34594"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_5_1","volume-title":"Imagination: A Manifesto","author":"Benjamin R","year":"2024","unstructured":"Benjamin R (2024) Imagination: A Manifesto. W. W. Norton & Company."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/11022.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780197582794.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_8_1","volume-title":"The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World","author":"Chatterjee P","year":"2004","unstructured":"Chatterjee P (2004) The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World. Columbia University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.18617\/liinc.v20i2.7312"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444819865984"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_4_11_1","first-page":"9","article-title":"Resisting and claiming digital sovereignty: the cases of civil society and Indigenous groups","volume":"17","author":"Couture S","year":"2025","unstructured":"Couture S, Toupin S, Mayoral Ba\u00f1os A (2025) Resisting and claiming digital sovereignty: the cases of civil society and Indigenous groups. Policy & Internet 17(1): 9\u201328. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/poi3.434","journal-title":"Policy & Internet"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.53288\/0364.1.00"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compcom.2016.03.007"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_14_1","volume-title":"Data Workers\u2019 Inquiry","author":"Data Workers\u2019 Inquiry","year":"2024","unstructured":"Data Workers\u2019 Inquiry (2024) Data Workers\u2019 Inquiry. DAIR Institute."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_15_1","volume-title":"Organizing Equality: Global Struggles in an Age of Right-Wing Ascendancy","author":"de Peuter G","year":"2020","unstructured":"de Peuter G (2020) Organizing dark matter: W.A.G.E. as alternative worker organization. In: Compton J, Dyer-Witheford N, Grzyb A, et al. (eds) Organizing Equality: Global Struggles in an Age of Right-Wing Ascendancy. McGill-Queen\u2019s University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1162\/99608f92.30a2934f"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_17_1","volume-title":"Resisting, Refusing, Reclaiming, Reimagining: Charting Challenges to Narratives of AI Inevitability","author":"Duarte T","year":"2025","unstructured":"Duarte T, Kherroubi Garcia I, Ramla A, et al. (2025) Resisting, Refusing, Reclaiming, Reimagining: Charting Challenges to Narratives of AI Inevitability. We and AI."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/j.ctt183p1zg"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_4_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"132","DOI":"10.31269\/triplec.v18i1.1133","article-title":"Digital workerism: technology, platforms, and the circulation of workers\u2019 struggles","volume":"18","author":"Englert S","year":"2020","unstructured":"Englert S, Woodcock J, Cant C (2020) Digital workerism: technology, platforms, and the circulation of workers\u2019 struggles. TripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique 18(1): 132\u2013145. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.31269\/triplec.v18i1.1133","journal-title":"TripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_20_1","volume-title":"Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?","author":"Fisher M","year":"2009","unstructured":"Fisher M (2009) Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Zero Books."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_21_1","volume-title":"Autonomia Liter\u00e1ria\/Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Rosa Luxemburgo","author":"Foletto L","year":"2021","unstructured":"Foletto L (2021) A cultura \u00e9 livre: uma hist\u00f3ria da resist\u00eancia antipropriedade. In: Autonomia Liter\u00e1ria\/Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Rosa Luxemburgo."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_22_1","first-page":"1","volume-title":"Pedagogy of the oppressed","author":"Freire P","year":"1990","unstructured":"Freire P (1990) Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum. 1\u2013242"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_23_1","first-page":"1","volume-title":"Pedagogy of hope","author":"Freire P","year":"1992","unstructured":"Freire P (1992) Pedagogy of hope. Continuum. 1\u2013270"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_24_1","volume-title":"Aprendendo Com a Pr\u00f3pria Hist\u00f3ria II","author":"Freire P","year":"1984","unstructured":"Freire P, Guimar\u00e3es S (1984) Aprendendo Com a Pr\u00f3pria Hist\u00f3ria II. Paz & Terra."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822372738"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Garcia P Sutherland T Salehi N Cifor M Singh AProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 6(CSCW2) Article (2022). No! Re-imagining data practices through the lens of critical refusal. 315 1\u201320.","DOI":"10.1145\/3557997"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_27_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/ccc\/tcad036"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_4_28_1","article-title":"Labor-atories of digital economies: Latin America as a site of struggles and experimentation","volume":"5","author":"Grohmann R","year":"2025","unstructured":"Grohmann R (2025a) Labor-atories of digital economies: Latin America as a site of struggles and experimentation. Weizenbaum Journal of the Digital Society 5(1). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34669\/wi.wjds\/5.1.6","journal-title":"Weizenbaum Journal of the Digital Society"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_29_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/20539517251330160"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_30_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/01634437251395003"},{"issue":"65","key":"e_1_3_4_31_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.18568\/cmc.v22i65.3085","article-title":"Soberania popular e autonomia: diferentes sentidos e consequ\u00eancias para pol\u00edticas digitais","volume":"22","author":"Grohmann R","year":"2025","unstructured":"Grohmann R, Burity P, Vilarins L (2025) Soberania popular e autonomia: diferentes sentidos e consequ\u00eancias para pol\u00edticas digitais. Comunica\u00e7\u00e3o, M\u00eddia e Consumo 22(65). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.18568\/cmc.v22i65.3085","journal-title":"Comunica\u00e7\u00e3o, M\u00eddia e Consumo"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_32_1","unstructured":"Hach\u00e9 A (2014) Soberan\u00eda tecnol\u00f3gica [Technological Sovereignty]. https:\/\/media.espora.org\/mgoblin_media\/media_entries\/1649\/libro_soberania_tecnologica_cast_final.pdf"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_33_1","volume-title":"Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism","author":"Harvey D","year":"2014","unstructured":"Harvey D (2014) Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism. Oxford University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_34_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0309132520926569"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_35_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/gec3.12728"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_36_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/20539517231221778"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_37_1","volume-title":"The State and Revolution","author":"Lenin VI","year":"1917","unstructured":"Lenin VI (1917) The State and Revolution. Kessinger Publishing."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_38_1","volume-title":"Communication, Culture and Hegemony: From the Media to Mediations","author":"Mart\u00edn-Barbero J","year":"1993","unstructured":"Mart\u00edn-Barbero J (1993) Communication, Culture and Hegemony: From the Media to Mediations. Sage Publications."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_39_1","first-page":"314","volume-title":"The Sage Handbook of Social Media","author":"Marwick A","year":"2017","unstructured":"Marwick A (2017) Silicon valley and the social media industry. In: Burgess J, Marwick A, Poell T (eds). The Sage Handbook of Social Media. Sage, pp. 314\u2013329."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_40_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/14742837.2024.2331550"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_41_1","volume-title":"The Homeless Workers\u2019 Movement in Brazil and the Struggle for Digital Sovereignty [Booklet]","author":"MTST","year":"2023","unstructured":"MTST (2023) The Homeless Workers\u2019 Movement in Brazil and the Struggle for Digital Sovereignty [Booklet]. MTST."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_42_1","volume-title":"Cybernetic Circulation Complex: Big Tech and Planetary Crisis","author":"Mularoni A","year":"2025","unstructured":"Mularoni A, Dyer-Witheford N (2025) Cybernetic Circulation Complex: Big Tech and Planetary Crisis. Verso."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_43_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/9781503641495"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_44_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.33621\/jdsr.v6i3.33244"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_45_1","volume-title":"Platforms and Cultural Production","author":"Poell T","year":"2021","unstructured":"Poell T, Nieborg DB, Duffy BE (2021) Platforms and Cultural Production. Polity Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_46_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1329878X1214500114"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_47_1","unstructured":"Ricaurte P (2021). Reimagining AI. Feminist AI. Retrieved from https:\/\/feministai.pubpub.org\/pub\/reimagining-ai"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_48_1","volume-title":"The Shape of the Cloud: Contesting Data Centre Construction in North Holland","author":"Rone J","year":"2024","unstructured":"Rone J (2024) The Shape of the Cloud: Contesting Data Centre Construction in North Holland. New Media & Society."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_49_1","volume-title":"Solidarity Across the Platform: Mobilizing high-wage and low-wage Workers in the Tech Sector","author":"Rothstein SA","year":"2025","unstructured":"Rothstein SA (2025) Solidarity Across the Platform: Mobilizing high-wage and low-wage Workers in the Tech Sector. Work in the Global Economy."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_50_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3898\/NEWF.88.04.2016"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_51_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9781478021704"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_52_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/9781503636156"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_53_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/15405702.2022.2103140"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_54_1","volume-title":"MTST 20 Anos De Hist\u00f3ria: Luta, Organiza\u00e7\u00e3o E Esperan\u00e7a Nas Periferias Do Brasil","author":"Sim\u00f5es G","year":"2017","unstructured":"Sim\u00f5es G, Campos M, Rafael R (2017) MTST 20 Anos De Hist\u00f3ria: Luta, Organiza\u00e7\u00e3o E Esperan\u00e7a Nas Periferias Do Brasil. Autonomia Liter\u00e1ria."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_55_1","first-page":"1","volume-title":"The Affective Politics of Reactionary Futurism in Silicon Valley","author":"Ta\u015fkale AR","year":"2025","unstructured":"Ta\u015fkale AR (2025) The Affective Politics of Reactionary Futurism in Silicon Valley. Critical Studies on Security, pp. 1\u20135."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_56_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1353\/wlt.2013.0205"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_57_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/20539517241227875"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_58_1","unstructured":"Vieira Pinto \u00c1 (2005). O conceito de tecnologia (Vols. 1\u20132). Contraponto."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_59_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7202\/1024212ar"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_60_1","volume-title":"Culture and Materialism: Selected Essays","author":"Williams R","year":"2005","unstructured":"Williams R (2005) Culture and Materialism: Selected Essays. Verso."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_61_1","volume-title":"Worker-Owned Intersectional Platforms","author":"WOIP","year":"2025","unstructured":"WOIP (2025) Worker-Owned Intersectional Platforms. DigiLabour."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_62_1","volume-title":"Envisioning Real Utopias","author":"Wright EO","year":"2010","unstructured":"Wright EO (2010) Envisioning Real Utopias. Verso."}],"container-title":["Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/13548565261456920","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/13548565261456920","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/13548565261456920","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T11:00:28Z","timestamp":1791543628000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/13548565261456920"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]]},"references-count":61,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/13548565261456920"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/13548565261456920","relation":{},"ISSN":["1354-8565","1748-7382"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1354-8565","type":"print"},{"value":"1748-7382","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]]}}}