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The Sociological Invention of Brazil: Essays and the Social Sciences

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Abstract

This article aims to problematize the vision of Brazilian essayism from the 1920s to 40s crystallized by the social sciences and the uniformizing tendency of the different interpretations of Brazil developed through this form of sociological imagination. This analytical procedure is understood as a prerequisite for rethinking the status of the essay and its interrogatory capacity contemporaneous with the Brazilian social sciences and society.

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  1. Francisco José de Oliveira Vianna (b. 1883, Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro; d. 1951, Rio de Janeiro). Trained in 1906 at the Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Law, he engaged in diverse activities in political and intellectual circles, and he became Professor at Judicial and Penal Law and Industrial Law at the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences of Niterói, and Legal Consultant at the Ministry of Labour. In 1933 he partook the Special Commission that set up the Constitution. In 1940, as well as being elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters, he became a minister of the Court of Auditors of the Republic. Among his books we can highlight Populações Meridionais do Brasil (1920), “Raça e Assimilação”/ Race and Assimilation (1938) and “Instituições Políticas BrasileirasBrazilian Political Institutions (1949).

  2. Paulo Prado (b. 1869, São Paulo; d. 1943, Rio de Janeiro), a leading coffee grower, was president of Casa Prado-Chaves & Cia. He was trained at São Paulo Faculty of Law (1889), he helped to sponsor the São Paulo artistic scene, including the promotion of the Modern Art Week in 1922, and literary journals like Revista do Brasil (1923–1925), Revista Nova (1931–1932) and Terra Roxa e Outras Terras (1926). He wrote “Paulística” (1925) and “Retrato do Brasil: ensaio sobre a tristeza brasileira”/Portrait of Brazil: essay on the Brazilian sorow (1928).

  3. Mário Raul de Moraes Andrade (b. 1893, São Paulo; d. 1945 São Paulo). Trained at the São Paulo Dramatic and Musical Conservatory, he became professor at the same institution in 1918. He subsequently collaborated regularly in the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro’s press. In 1922, he was one of the creators of the Modern Art Week. He set up the Department of Culture of the São Paulo City’s Council (1935) and the Society of Ethnography and Folklore of São Paulo (1937). In 1938, he headed the Institute of Arts of the Federal District University and worked for the National Book Institute of the Ministry of Education and Health. He wrote “Paulicéia Desvairada” / Raving Mad Paulicéia (1922), “Ensaio Sobre a Música Brasileira”/Essay on Brazilian Music (1928) and Macunaíma (1928), among other works.

  4. Gilberto de Mello Freyre (b. 1900, Recife; d. 1987, Recife) was trained at the Baylor University (1920), he got M.A. degree at Columbia University (1922). He promoted the first Regionalist Congress (1926) and the first Congress of Afro-Brazilian Studies (1934). As a congressman (1946–1950), he created the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation. Among other works, he was the author of “Casa Grande & Senzala”/ Masters and Slaves (1933), “Sobrados & Mucambos”/ The Mansions and the Shanties (1936) and “Nordeste” / Northeast (1937).

  5. Caio da Silva Prado Júnior (b. 1907, São Paulo; d. 1990, São Paulo). He was trained in Legal and Social Sciences at the São Paulo Faculty of Law in 1928, he was an activist in the Democratic Party (1928–1931) and joined the Communist Party of Brazil in 1931 and remained a member until his death. He founded the Publishing House Brasiliense (1943) and the Association of Brazilian Geographers (1934). In 1954 he was nominated to the Chair of Political Economy at the Faculty of Law of University of São Paulo. Among other works, he published “Evolução Política do Brasil”/ Political Evolution in Brazil (1933), “Formação do Brasil Contemporâneo”/ Formation of the Contemporary Brazil (1942) and “História Econômica do Brasil”/ Economic History of Brazil (1945).

  6. Sérgio Buarque de Holanda (b. 1902, São Paulo; d. 1982, São Paulo) was trained at the Faculty of Law at the University of Rio de Janeiro (1921). In 1958, he got his M.A. degree in Social Sciences at the Free School of Sociology and Politics (ELSP). He joined the 1922 Modernist Movement and became a professor at the Federal District University (1936–1939). He directed the Museu Paulista (1946–1956) and, during the same period, he taught at Free School of Sociology and Politics and at the University of São Paulo in 1956. He was lecturer at universities in Italy, Chile, France and United States. He was the author of “Raízes do Brasil”/ Roots of Brazill (1936) and “Visão do Paraíso”/ Paradise of Vision (1959), among other works.

  7. Alberto Guerreiro Ramos (b. 1915, Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia; d. 1982, Los Angeles, United States). He graduated in Social Sciences at the Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Philosophy (1942) and got a law degree at the Faculty of Law of Rio de Janeiro (1943). In 1944, he took part in the Black Experimental Theatre with Abdias do Nascimento. He worked at the Higher Institute of Brazilian Studies (ISEB) in the 1950s. He was elected as substitute federal deputy by the Brazilian Labour Party (1963). Among other books, he published “Introdução Crítica à Sociologia Brasileira”/ Critical Introduction to the Brazilian Sociology (1957) and Administração e Contexto Brasileiro/ Administration in the Brazilian Context (1983).

  8. Luiz de Aguiar Costa Pinto (b. 1920, Salvador, Bahia; d. 2002, Salvador). He studied Social Sciences at the National Faculty of Philosophy (FNFi) of the University of Brazil. He graduated in 1942 and he became Jacques Lambert’s assistant in the Chair of Sociology at the same institution. He was the author of “Lutas de Famílias no Brasil”/ Family strives in Brazil (1949) and “O Negro no Rio de Janeiro”/ The negro in Rio de Janeiro (1953), among other works.

  9. Florestan Fernandes (b. 1920, São Paulo; d. 1995, São Paulo). He graduated in Social Sciences in the Faculty of Philosophy, Science and Languages of the University of São Paulo in 1944 and became an assistant of the Chair of Sociology II (1945) and Chair of Sociology I (1964–1969) at the same institution. He taught at Columbia University (1965–1966), University of Toronto (1969–1972) and Yale University (1977) and, at the Catholic University of São Paulo (1978). He was elected federal deputy for the Workers Party in 1986 and 1990, and worked in the Constituent Assembly. He worked for many periodicals from 1940 onwards and wrote, among other books, “A Integração do Negro na Sociedade de Classes”/ The integration of the Negro in the Stratified Society (1964), “Fundamentos Empíricos da Explicação Sociológica”/ Empirical Foundations of the Sociological Explanation (1967) and “A Revolução Burguesa no Brasil”/ The Burgueoise Revolution in Brazil (1975).

  10. Antonio Candido de Mello e Souza (b. 1918, Rio de Janeiro; d. 2018, São Paulo). He graduated in Social Sciences (1941), he became Professor of Brazilian Literature (1945) and ahe got his Ph.D. in Sciences (1954) at the University of São Paulo (USP), where he was also assistant to the Chair of Sociology II (1942–1958). He taught at the Assis Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters (1958–1960), the University of Paris (1964–1966) and Yale University (1968). In 1974, he became Full Professor at the Unvieristy of São Paulo. He coordinated the Institute of Studies of Language at Campinas State University (1976–1978). He was the author of, among other works, “Formação da Literatura Brasileira”/ The formatin of Brazilian Literature (1959) and “Os Parceiros do Rio Bonito’/ The Partners of Bonito’s River (1964).

  11. For an excellent interpretation and valuable historical information on the formation of Brazilian society, consult Lilia M. Schwarcz & Heloisa M. Starling: Brazil: A Biography (Schwarcz and Starling 2018).

  12. The 1930 Revolution was an armed movement led by the states of Minas Gerais, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Sul, which culminated in the coup d’état that deposed the president of the republic Washington Luís on October 1930, prevented the inauguration of the elected president Júlio Prestes and put an end to the so-called First Republic (1889–1930). The 1932 Revolution – also called the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution – was an armed movement that took place in the states of São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul between July and October 1932, which had the objective of overthrowing Getúlio Vargas’s provisional government and convoking a National Constituent Assembly.

  13. Joaquim Aurélio Barreto Nabuco de Araújo (b. 1849, Recife; d. 1910, Washington D.C. United States). In 1870, he concluded the course in Law at the Faculty of Recife. In 1876, he worked as Attaché to the Brazilian Delegation in the United States. In 1878, he became a deputy – a post he held for decades. Two years later, he founded with André Rebouças the Brazilian Society Against Slavery and launched the newspaper O Abolicionista. He became a member of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1882. In 1888, he proposed an urgent analysis of the law bill for abolition. He was Brazil’s ambassador in Washington (1905–10). Among other works, he was the author of O Abolicionismo (1883), Um Estadista do Império (1898) and Minha Formação (1900).

  14. Euclides da Cunha (b. 1886, Cantagalo, Rio de Janeiro; d. 1909, Rio de Janeiro). Trained in engineering at the Praia Vermelha Military School (1890), he worked in the Army until 1896, when he begun to work as a civil engineer in São Paulo (1895–1904). In 1894 he participated in the expedition that carried out the cartographic survey of the Alto Purus River for the purposes of border demarcation. He worked as Attaché for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1907–1909) and as a teacher at the Pedro II College (1909). He collaborated with newspapers and magazines from 1884, including working as a reporter in Canudos (1897). He was the author of Os Sertões (1902), Contrastes e Confrontos (1907), Peru versus Bolívia (1907) and À Margem da História (1909), among other works.

  15. Manoel José do Bonfim (b. 1868, Aracaju, Sergipe; d. 1932, Rio de Janeiro). A graduate from the Faculty of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro (1890), he assumed the Chair of Pedagogy and Psychology of the Normal School (1898) in the same city. Between 1902 and 1903 he studied Psychology in Paris. On his return he founded and directed the first Laboratory of Psychology of Brazil (1906). He was director of Public Education (1898 and 1905) and a federal deputy for Sergipe in 1907. He collaborates with various periodicals and founded the children’s magazine Tico-Tico (1905). He was the author of América Latina, Males de Origem (1905), Através do Brasil (1910), O Brasil na América (1929), O Brasil na História (1930) and O Brasil Nação (1931) among other titles.

  16. The First Republic, after the 1930 Revolution called the ‘Old Republic,’ is the period in Brazil’s history spanning from the proclamation of the Republic on 15 November 1889 to the 1930 Revolution, which deposed the 13th and last president of the Old Republic, Washington Luís. It was characterized by the alternation of the ruling oligarchies of São Paulo and Minas Gerais in the presidency.

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Botelho, A. The Sociological Invention of Brazil: Essays and the Social Sciences. Am Soc 51, 291–305 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-019-09429-w

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