{"id":466338,"date":"2023-01-24T16:50:08","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T19:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=466338"},"modified":"2023-01-24T16:50:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T19:50:08","slug":"the-utopian-torch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/the-utopian-torch\/","title":{"rendered":"The utopian torch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Luciana Whitaker\u2009\/\u2009Folhapress<\/span>Darcy Ribeiro, in his Rio de Janeiro home, from a 1995 recordLuciana Whitaker\u2009\/\u2009Folhapress<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

In one of his final interviews, anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro (1922\u20131997) recounted fleeing from the hospital where he was undergoing cancer treatment to finish the book he considered his crowning achievement: The Brazilian People<\/em> (University Press of Florida, 2000). In the same interview, he recognized that he was a man \u201cof many hats\u201d: he was an indigenous ethnologist, anthropologist, educator, public manager, militant politician, and novelist. But he claimed to have failed in his mission of making Brazil what it \u201ccould be.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the hundredth anniversary of his birth, his legacy is being commemorated across the country. Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ) declared 2022 \u201cThe Year of Darcy Ribeiro\u201d and scheduled several events. In March, the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (IEA-USP) held a seminar about his influence on Brazilian education. The University of Bras\u00edlia (UnB), which was founded by the anthropologist, among others, combined its 60th<\/sup> anniversary celebrations with the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of its first chancellor. In the publishing world, the autobiography Testemunho<\/em> (Testimony), originally published in 1990, is being republished by Editora Record, with a preface written by journalist Eric Nepomuceno. Editora Elefante, in turn, is releasing Os futuros de Darcy Ribeiro<\/em> (Darcy Ribeiro’s futures), compiled by Argentine sociologist Andr\u00e9s Kozel, of the National University of General San Mart\u00edn (UNSAM) and by political scientist Fabricio Pereira da Silva, of the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO).<\/p>\n

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Arquivo Central da Universidade de Bras\u00edlia<\/span>In the Dois Candangos auditorium, Darcy participates in the inauguration of UnB, in April of 1962Arquivo Central da Universidade de Bras\u00edlia<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cDarcy Ribeiro is a fascinating figure and one of the most prolific Latin American authors who prognosticates the future. In some of his works, he appears quite vocal remarking on utopian and dystopian alternatives for Brazil and Latin America,\u201d notes Pereira da Silva. \u201cThis is an excellent time to reexamine his ideas, his utopias, and projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Darcy earned a degree in social sciences from the Foundation School of Sociology and Politics in S\u00e3o Paulo, in 1946, under the guidance of German ethnologist Herbert Baldus (1899\u20131970). Baldus recommended him to work with Field Marshal C\u00e2ndido Rondon (1865\u20131958) in the Indian Protection Service (SPI), where he remained from 1947 to 1955. During this period, he dedicated himself to the ethnography of indigenous peoples, including the Kadiw\u00e9u, the Kaingang, and the Bororo. With brothers Cl\u00e1udio (1916\u20131998) and Orlando Villas-B\u00f4as (1914\u20132002), he helped create the Xingu Indigenous Park, in 1952. Based on this experience, he published his first books, such as (Indigenous cultures and languages of Brazil) and Arte plum\u00e1ria dos \u00edndios Kaapor<\/em> (Feather art of the Kaapor Indigenous people), both published in 1957.<\/p>\n

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Niels Andreas\u2009\/\u2009Folhapress<\/span>The anthropologist before the round table \u201cEducation: Free or occupied territory?\u201d at SBPC, in S\u00e3o Paulo (1988)Niels Andreas\u2009\/\u2009Folhapress<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt was in the field, as an SPI professional, that he developed these concepts of Indigenous and Brazilian people. The theoretical bases of his work were largely formed during this period,\u201d says historian Carolina Arouca Gomes de Brito, of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ). In a report presented to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in 1952, Darcy criticized the idea that Indigenous peoples peacefully assimilated into the Brazilian population, showing that Brazil’s formation involved the extermination of Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n

His career as an educator began at the Getulio Vargas Foundation’s Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE-FGV), in Rio de Janeiro, where he taught Brazilian ethnology for two years. At the same time, he cofounded the Museu do \u00cdndio (Indian Museum) in 1953 and, two years later, created Brazil’s first graduate course in cultural anthropology. Upon leaving the SPI, he lectured at the University of Brazil, now known as the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). During this period, he developed work with pedagogue An\u00edsio Teixeira (1900\u20131971), a preeminent intellectual in Brazilian education and an advocate for full-time basic education (see<\/em> Pesquisa FAPESP issue n\u00ba 303<\/em><\/a>). His influence would endure throughout Darcy Ribeiro’s career and materialized in the project for Integrated Centers of Public Education (CIEPs), which were full-time schools established in Rio de Janeiro in the 1980s. At the time, the governor was Leonel Brizola (1922\u20132004), with Darcy as his lieutenant.<\/p>\n

While in exile, Darcy dedicated himself to the ambitious project focused on the \u201canthropology of civilizations\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Darcy and Brizola became close in the 1960s, when the anthropologist from Minas Gerais became involved in national politics. He was the Minister of Education during the parliamentary period of the Jo\u00e3o Goulart administration (1919\u20131976). Upon Brazil’s return to a presidential system, he became chief of staff of the Presidency. After the 1964 coup d\u2019\u00e9tat, his political rights were revoked. During the military dictatorship (1964\u201385), the anthropologist spent 12 years living abroad. It was a decisive period for consolidating his views, according to Darcy himself, who referred to the exile as the time during which he discovered himself as a Latin American. In the countries he visited\u2014Uruguay, Venezuela, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, and Mexico\u2014he helped create and reform universities, as well as lecture at various institutions.<\/p>\n

In Uruguay, Darcy was introduced to the work of sociologist and historian Manoel Bomfim (1868\u20131932). The author of A Am\u00e9rica Latina:<\/em> Males de origem<\/em> (Latin America: Evil origin; Garnier, 1905) became one of his paragons, as he opposed the social and racial theories of his time by stating that the cause of Brazil’s problems was not ethnic diversity, but the very logic of colonization. \u201cBomfim wrote of eugenics at the time, but was already refuting arguments based on racial inferiority,\u201d points out sociologist Ad\u00e9lia Miglievich-Ribeiro, of the Federal University of Esp\u00edrito Santo (UFES). \u201cHe also emphasized that the way to overcome any backwardness lay in the ability to emancipate ourselves from colonialism and assert ourselves as a sovereign nation. Thus, he proposed a comprehensive national education project.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Darcy Ribeiro Foundation<\/span>In the territory that is now Mato Grosso do Sul, the anthropologist with Kadiw\u00e9u face paint, in 1947Darcy Ribeiro Foundation<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

While in exile, Darcy dedicated himself to the ambitious intellectual project focused on the \u201canthropology of civilizations.\u201d In 1968, he published the Portuguese edition of Civilization Process <\/em>(Smithsonian Books, 1969). In 1970, The Americas and Civilization <\/em>(Dutton, 1971) and Os \u00edndios e a civiliza\u00e7\u00e3o<\/em> (The Indians and civilization; Vozes). Also, as part of the same theoretical impulse, he released Os brasileiros:<\/em> Teoria do Brasil<\/em> (Brazilians: Theory of Brazil; Vozes, 1972) and O dilema da Am\u00e9rica Latina<\/em> (The Latin American dilemma; Paz e Terra, 1978). In The Americas and Civilization<\/em>, the anthropologist proposes classifying a continent’s populations according to the relationship they had with colonization. Groups that could simply reproduce their European way of life on the other side of the Atlantic, as in the northern United States, Canada, and in parts of Argentina, are called \u201ctransplanted peoples.\u201d The descendants of the pre-Columbian empires, which are found mainly in Mexico and Peru, are \u201cwitness peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n

And finally, there are the \u201cnew peoples,\u201d in countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil. These are formed by the transmutation of old identities. This idea reappears in The Brazilian People<\/em> in the form of \u201cnobodyness,\u201d a concept that describes the formation of the Brazilian population from the violent encounter between Europeans and the Indigenous peoples. The latter sought to turn newcomers into relatives by promoting marriages between colonizers and Indigenous women\u2014the so-called \u201ccunhadismo\u201d (from Portuguese cunhado<\/em>, \u201cbrother-in-law\u201d). The children born of these partnerships, however, denied their mothers\u2019 culture and aspired to that of their fathers, which was not accessible to them, according to the anthropologist. The same violence would later occur among the Africans forcibly brought over and prevented from continuing their lineages in the new land.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Brazilian people tell a story of terrible suffering: colonialism, the decimation of Black and Indigenous peoples, violence against women, land grabbing, and the destruction of cultural heritage,\u201d says Miglievich-Ribeiro. \u201cDarcy carried the utopian torch and believed that something new would be born from this nobodyness. But this does not happen naturally. In his view, only through political struggle can we overcome the condition of subalternity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Darcy Ribeiro Foundation<\/span>Two years later, among the Urubu-Kaapor, in Maranh\u00e3oDarcy Ribeiro Foundation<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Darcy Ribeiro’s critique of colonialism, analysis of Latin Americans, and appreciation of the Indigenous point of view make his work a source of inspiration for researchers in the field of postcolonial and decolonial studies, according to Pereira da Silva, who cites as examples the Argentine semiologist Walter Mignolo and North American cultural theologist Gloria Anzald\u00faa (1942\u20132004). \u201cThey are reinterpretations and appropriations, because when he published these terms, they were not yet used. The trend towards evolutionism and Eurocentrism in his early years gave way, during his exile, to a more diversified version, in which Latin America appears as a hub of civilization,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Pereira da Silva also identifies Darcy Ribeiro’s influence on Latin American concepts that emphasize the continent’s plurinational nature and Indigenous peoples\u2019 right to self-determination. In his earlier works, the anthropologist stated that continued colonization and miscegenation would lead to the disappearance of Indigenous peoples. In the 1970s, however, he began to identify the emergence of resistance movements and identity affirmation by Indigenous peoples in several countries, including Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe sees that Indigenous peoples develop national identities. They will not disappear. Then he begins thinking in terms of countries with multiple nationalities, such as federations. This precedes discussions on plurinationality that will develop in Bolivia and Ecuador, leading to constitutional processes like the one taking place today in Chile,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Arquivo Central da Universidade de Bras\u00edlia<\/span>On March 15, 1995, when he received an honorary doctorate from the institution, the UnB campus began to be called the Darcy Ribeiro CampusArquivo Central da Universidade de Bras\u00edlia<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

According to Miglievich-Ribeiro, although Darcy adopted ways of thinking that set him apart from mainstream postcolonialism, such as the pretense of explaining universal phenomena, the core of his project is similar to that of other precursors of this trend, such as the Martinicans Frantz Fanon (1925\u20131961) and Aim\u00e9 C\u00e9saire (1913\u20132008). \u201cEveryone tried to create a narrative based on those who lived through the experience of colonial exploitation,\u201d she summarizes. \u201cWhat unites them is the understanding that Latin Americans were shaped by colonialism. These are scholars who do not accept European universalism as an explanation of the world.\u201d In 1976, Darcy Ribeiro returned to Brazil and revealed another professional title: that of novelist. He published Ma\u00edra<\/em> (Vintage Library, 1984), a novel strongly anchored in his experience as an ethnologist. This was followed by O mulo<\/em> (The mule; Nova Fronteira, 1981), Utopia selvagem<\/em> (Wild utopia; Nova Fronteira, 1982), and Migo<\/em> (Migo; Guanabara, 1988).<\/p>\n

Despite having been a university chancellor, founder, and reformer, Darcy spent most of his career outside of Brazilian universities. However, he never stopped reflecting on his higher education project. He published books such as A universidade necess\u00e1ria<\/em> (The necessary university; Biblioteca, 1971), in which he exposed his project based on interdisciplinary studies, investment in advanced scientific research, social commitment, and shared decision-making with the student body.<\/p>\n

Brito, of FIOCRUZ, describes the UnB project as \u201ca multidisciplinary center for academic training, a precept that is still considered to be at the vanguard within Brazilian universities.\u201d According to Pereira da Silva, Darcy’s project for the universities was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, institutions such as the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) and the Federal University for Latin American Integration (UNILA), in Foz do Igua\u00e7u (Paran\u00e1), incorporated some of his ideas. \u201cThese institutions were inspired by the UnB project, which was aborted by the 1964 coup d\u2019\u00e9tat,\u201d he says. The innovations introduced affected the core curriculum at the start of undergraduate programs and the format of interdisciplinary institutions, instead of departments dedicated to one classic discipline.<\/p>\n

As lieutenant governor of Rio de Janeiro, between 1983 and 1987, in addition to the CIEPs, he designed the State University of North Fluminense (UENF), located in Campos dos Goytacazes, founded in 1991. That same year, he was elected Senator by the Democratic Labor Party (PDT), a position he occupied until his death. Darcy Ribeiro was married to anthropologist Berta Gleizer Ribeiro (1924\u20131997) between 1948 and 1975, and designer Claudia Zarvos between 1978 and 1990.<\/p>\n

Scientific articles<\/strong>
\nBRITO, C. A. G. de.\u00a0Integra\u00e7\u00e3o n\u00e3o significa assimila\u00e7\u00e3o. O estudo de Darcy Ribeiro para a Unesco na d\u00e9cada de 1950<\/a>.\u00a0Acervo<\/strong>. v. 34, n. 2. 2021.
\nMARTINAZZO, C. J.\u00a0et al<\/em>.\u00a0A atualidade do diagn\u00f3stico e da cr\u00edtica de Darcy Ribeiro (1922-1997) \u00e0 educa\u00e7\u00e3o brasileira<\/a>.\u00a0Cadernos de Hist\u00f3ria da Educa\u00e7\u00e3o<\/strong>. v. 19, n. 2. 2020.
\nMIGLIEVICH-RIBEIRO, A. e ROMERA JR., E.\u00a0Revista Interinstitucional Artes de Educar<\/strong>. v. 3, n. 2. 2017.
\nM\u00dcLLER, H. D. C. M.\u00a0A universidade necess\u00e1ria: Desenvolvimento nacional e produ\u00e7\u00e3o cient\u00edfica<\/a>.\u00a0Rebela<\/strong>. v. 10, n. 1. 2020.
\nOLIVEIRA, J. P.\u00a0Proteger os \u00edndios e descolonizar a pesquisa: Darcy Ribeiro como antrop\u00f3logo<\/a>.\u00a0Revista Munda\u00fa<\/strong>. n. 8. 2020.<\/p>\n

Book<\/strong>
\nKOZEL, A. e PEREIRA DA SILVA, F. (orgs.).\u00a0Os futuros de Darcy Ribeiro<\/strong>. S\u00e3o Paulo: Elefante, 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hundredth anniversary celebration for Darcy Ribeiro highlights the anthropologist’s contribution to sociology and education","protected":false},"author":613,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[201,226,256,261],"coauthors":[1619],"class_list":["post-466338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retrospect","tag-anthropology","tag-education","tag-public-policies","tag-sociology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/613"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466338"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466367,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466338\/revisions\/466367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466338"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=466338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}