Claudelice Santos is a renowned human rights and environmental activist, as well as a lawyer, from Pará in the Brazilian Amazon. Her journey as a defender of justice began after the tragic murder of her brother and sister-in-law in 2011, who were killed while protecting the Amazon from illegal loggers and land-grabbers.
As the Coordinator of the Zé Claudio & Maria Institute, named in their memory, Claudelice leads a powerful network of Amazonian defenders. She champions climate action, gender equality, and the protection of traditional communities and their ancestral lands. Claudelice’s impactful work has earned her prestigious nominations for the EU’s Sakharov Prize (2019) and the Netherlands’ Tulip Award.
Claudelice is one of our Aura Fellows, having completed our holistic nine-module programme designed to nurture and empower female leaders. In this Aura Spotlight interview, we delve into her experience.
How has Aura transformed your relationship with yourself?
I can confidently say I am now a more self-assured woman. I've always been strong, but Aura has helped me become firm without being harsh, decisive without fear of misinterpretation — and even if I am, that’s okay.
Life’s hardships had put me in a defensive position, but Aura supports me daily in being strategic, in expressing emotions and reactions that feel authentic and allow me to grow. This has impacted my work with women, the organisation I lead, and, most importantly, my relationships with my daughters and my family.
How has Aura helped change your perspective on activism?
It has helped me in understanding that not everything has to feel heavy or burdensome; it has helped me see the world more lightly. I now see the importance of appreciating beauty, feeling it, and promoting it — even in activism.
Could you share an Aura experience that was particularly transformative?
Facilitating my own Aura circles, where I train women farmers in the Amazon, has been life-changing. Today, we are a community of over 60 women from diverse regions, gathering every four months to connect, grow, and care for each other.
Our territory is beautiful, diverse, and filled with symbols of nature, but the forest is also home to people: people with diverse cultures who often face oppressive gender norms that foster abusive practices and silence.
In our circles, we’ve broken the silence, fear, and shame. We’ve incorporated techniques to identify bodily reactions to trauma and fears, and together, we’ve faced these challenges with care and affection.
We call ourselves “companheiras de luta” (companions in struggle). Many women shared experiences of violence they had never spoken about before, even in a women-only space, which can be incredibly challenging. These breakthroughs have advanced the work of women defenders in their Amazon territories.
Another crucial shift has been introducing routines of self-care. This was previously non-existent, even taboo, but now women share how they try to take better care of themselves using practices from the circles.
What does feminine wisdom mean to you?
Feminine wisdom allows us to truly live in harmony with ourselves, to recognise our identity as women in a broad sense, beyond how others perceive us. It’s the purest divine spark within us, and we should explore it to its fullest potential. Aura has guided me along this path of self-discovery and possibility.
What advice would you give to another woman starting her Aura journey?
The fear of exploring our potential is something we’ve been conditioned to believe, but it’s incompatible with our revolutionary soul. As Margarida Alves, an inspiration for women’s movements in Brazil, said: “We feel fear, but we don’t use it.”
Whenever I feel afraid, I remind myself that while fear can help us understand ourselves better, it should never limit our potential.
For further reading by Claudelice — “My country doesn’t need any more deforestation"