Brazilian Social Sciences Research Articles

Racismo no Brasil: de hipótese à premissa, sem passar por objeto

The area study of race relations is one of the oldest and most consolidated in Brazilian Social Sciences. Yet paradoxically, there is still little research focused on understanding and explaining Brazil’s racism, its mechanisms and characteristics. In addition to illustrating these claims, this text aims to explain why the mechanisms of racial discrimination still manage to escape the radar of sociology and, above all, to outline the general lines of a research agenda that takes discrimination as an object of investigation. It seems that racial discrimination stopped being a research hypothesis, reformulated and tested in different ways between the 1970s and 1990s, to become a premise in the area from the 2000s onwards. However, this came to be without racism being properly constructed as an object of sociological research itself.

Social Sciences in Brazil: From a Broad Interdisciplinarity to a Restricted Interdisciplinarity

In this work, we will analyze how the transition from an expanded conception of social sciences to a more restricted notion of social sciences, centered on the disciplines of anthropology, political science, and sociology, took place in Brazil. In the first part of this article, we will contextualize the creation process of the first undergraduate courses of social sciences in Brazil in the 1930s, as well as their transformations over time; in the second part, we will carry out an analysis of the social sciences programs existing in Brazil, starting from the courses that are currently in operation and grant master’s and/or doctoral degrees in this area. Finally, we demonstrate how the creation of the national graduate system between the 1960s and 1970s was essential to consolidate this institutional arrangement and the creation of the National Association for Research and Graduate Studies in Social Sciences in the 1970s.

Social Tropicalism, Engaged Geographies and the Brazilian “Hub”

This paper explores the contributions of authors who worked in the first Brazilian universities—the Universidade de São Paulo, founded in 1934, and the Universidade do Distrito Federal, founded in 1935—and became internationally influential, by focusing on their acquaintance with European (and especially French) colleagues who contributed to the “University Missions” in Brazil. These scholars built anti-racist approaches to understanding Brazilian racialised and marginalised communities and developed ideas on tropicality that challenged classical European views of an alleged “inferiority” of tropical people and their lands, based on environmental determinism or scientific racism. These anti-racist views of the tropics, which I call “social tropicalism”, acquired international renown thanks to the publications of Brazilian geographer Josué de Castro (1908-1973). Based on new archives and drawing upon recent literature on tropicality and post/decoloniality, I analyse Castro’s early networking with other transnational scholars such as French sociologist Roger Bastide (1898-1974) and Brazilian anthropologist Artur Ramos (1903-1949). Discussing these intellectual exchanges allows for an appreciation of the Brazilian social science “hub” organized around these early universities, and the way they contributed to shape critical scholarly thinking and challenged traditional views on the South as a “tributary” of Northern theories.

Interview with Renato Ortiz: Intersections between Sociology and Anthropology

A prominent figure in the social sciences in Brazil and Latin America, Renato Ortiz is invited in this interview to reflect on his intellectual and academic trajectory, whose (re) beginning goes back to France in the 1970s. Professor at the Campinas State University since 1988, he addresses here the main concepts and references that make up his vast work, situated at the intersections between sociology and anthropology. The conversation begins by addressing the issue of his university education and insertion in the Brazilian academic field and develops through the following topics: religion and popular culture, national identity and modernity, mundialization and globalization, the market of symbolic goods and the luxury universe. Finally, he focuses on the dilemma of intellectual work in the social sciences amidst the adversities of the present.

Entre a ciência e a política: Donald Pierson e a busca por uma sociologia científica no Brasil

Abstract This paper analyzes the political dimension embedded in the work of the American sociologist Donald Pierson in Brazil. A former student of Robert Park at the University of Chicago, Pierson played a major role in the institutionalization of the social sciences in Brazil from the 1930s through the 1950s. While Pierson’s intellectual ambitions were centered on an academic agenda and he defended a strict division between science and politics, we argue that a proper historical understanding of his endeavor can only be achieved through an analysis of his underlying assumptions about the nature of both science and society – assumptions that were rooted in a reformist, liberal-democratic understanding of the world. To bring to light these values, we examine two key moments in Pierson’s career: 1) his doctoral research on race relations in Bahia, done in the mid-1930s; 2) his efforts to promote the field of sociology in Brazil during the Good Neighbor Policy and World War II, when he was hired to teach at the São Paulo School of Sociology and Politics.

Funding Policy Research under ‘Distasteful Regimes’: The Ford Foundation and the Social Sciences in Brazil, 1964–71

AbstractThe Ford Foundation's involvement with the social sciences in Brazil coincided with the early years of the military regime that ruled the country between 1964 and 1985. The paper studies how changed political circumstances in the United States and abroad induced the Foundation to gradually abandon the technocratic approach that had governed its overseas programme since the 1950s, thus introducing a critical shift in its policies toward the developing world. A grant proposal to the University of Brasília, which had been subject to repeated military interventions since 1964, highlighted the ethical dilemmas raised by the goal of fostering policy-relevant research in an authoritarian political context. Relying on a pragmatic decision-making framework that converted ethical and ideological considerations into cost–benefit exercises, the Foundation finally moved away from the maxims of modernisation theory to embrace new strategic priorities like human rights, democracy and intellectual pluralism.

Cities in the Brazilian social sciences

Cities in the Brazilian social sciences

Antes que eu me esqueça: memórias do editor do BIB

Testimony by Charles Pessanha, founder of the Boletim Informativo e Bibliográfico em Ciências Sociais (BIB), about his experience as editor of the journal and his participation in the formation of the system of scientific publications in the Brazilian social sciences.

Encounter, mixture, and syncretism from the perspective of the Afro-Brazilian religion Terecô

ABSTRACT This article seeks to ethnographically reflect on the entanglements between different religious practices through the perspective of Terecô, an Afro-Brazilian religion eminently practiced in the city of Codó, state of Maranhão, Northeastern Brazil. Specifically, it investigates the viradas (rhythm turns) that highlight the relationship between Terecô and Tambor de Mina (another Afro-Brazilian religion), to better understand the terms of these entanglements that challenge dominant trends in Brazilian Social Sciences since the nineteenth century. Terecô's incorporation of certain elements of Tambor de Mina is carried out in such a way that the relationship between the religions is established by maintaining the differences, in a dynamic that sheds light onto the notions of encounter, mixture, and syncretism. Thus, I propose an investigation of the idea of virada as mobilized by Terecô's practitioners so as to reposition the classic debate on syncretism and the entanglements between different religious practices.

Luiz Antonio Machado da Silva: an intellectual of the most “refined demeanor” in Brazilian Social Sciences

In this article, we recall the legacy of Luiz Antonio Machado da Silva, a victim of COVID-19 in 2020, for Brazilian Social Sciences and, more specifically, Urban Sociology. This was the field to which Machado had dedicated himself during more than 50 years of research and studies, opening new paths and analytical perspectives for the study of life on the “margins” (favelas and peripheries of large cities - contemplated through the city of Rio de Janeiro, where he lived and conducted his research). Within different contexts, Machado analyzed the State production of “urban marginality”, seeking to understand the life experiences, survival strategies, political struggles and challenges of the urban popular strata. As of the 1990s, he also dedicated himself to analyzing the effects caused by the erosion of the world of work and by state regulation that erstwhile accompanied it, thereby guaranteeing a minimum of rights and some social integration. Thus, within this context, he directed his analytical efforts towards understand both the meaning and the uses of the category of informality, and above all, was attentive to and concerned with the effects brought by the emergence of violent crime from within an urban structure torn apart by the labor crisis, as the social foundation to the times of deconstruction of our institutional and political paradigm of social integration. Since it would be impossible to gauge the true grandeur of his work, we have sought to reconstruct just a part of his research trajectory and his analytical contribution to Urban Sociology within the different contexts. We also emphasize a lesser known aspect of Machado: that of a public intellectual who always sought to intervene in the public debate regarding the place of the urban popular classes within the city.

Another World Is Possible: A Comparative Perspective

Another World Is Possible: A Comparative Perspective

Reflections on ethical aspects of research in human and social sciences in Brazil

Comites de avaliacao etica nas pesquisas em ciencias humanas e sociais estao cada vez mais cautelosos quanto a aprovacao e autorizacao dos projetos. O objetivo deste artigo e tecer uma discussao teorica sobre aspectos eticos das pesquisas em ciencias humanas e sociais no Brasil, tendo como referencia as prerrogativas das resolucoes no 466/2012 e n° 510/2016 do CONEP/CNS/MS, utilizando a pesquisa bibliografica como procedimento metodologico. Mesmo consideradas aplicaveis a qualquer area do conhecimento, as normativas nao contemplam as demandas metodologicas especificas das ciencias humanas e sociais. Assim, prevalece a ideia sobre a necessidade de revisao dos criterios da etica na pesquisa, considerando as especificidades das diferentes areas do saber; bem como a revisao dos criterios de composicao dos comites de etica, que devem ser formados por pares das areas afins, preferencialmente na perspectiva democratica e interdisciplinar. O desafio e ampliar e democratizar o debate, envolvendo instituicoes de ensino e pesquisa e orgaos governamentais reguladores, sem perder de vista a etica como orientadora do fazer cientifico.

Lógicas sociais do gosto: Práticas culturais e distinção social

It is a review of the work As Logicas Sociais do Gosto, organized by Carolina Pulici and Dmitri Fernandes, published in 2019 and inserted in the field of social studies on taste, an object poorly debated in Brazilian Social Sciences, according to the organizers. The collection includes eight articles produced from different contexts, times, and methodological experiences on cultural production and reproduction. Together they offer an important and possible dialogue with the aim of discussing the differential appropriation of culture from the social specificities of its audience ”(:31). Thus, from the reading of the articles, I establish some correlations between them, and then I propose a more general analysis, thinking about the possibilities of expanding these discussions in future research.

A pós-graduação em Ciências Sociais no Brasil:

This is an interview with Jacob Carlos Lima, professor at the Federal University of Sao Carlos, president of the Brazilian Society of Sociology (SBS) in the period 2019-2021. In the interview, some aspects of the institutionalization and professionalization of Brazilian Social Sciences are addressed, with an emphasis on the characteristics of the Postgraduate Programs in Sociology, as well as the research funding agencies such as CAPES and CNPq and professional associations such as ANPOCS and SBS. In addition, aspects of the effects of institutional policy on the financing of postgraduate studies in the Social Sciences area, the consequences of the political-sanitary crisis of Covid-19 in the country and an assessment of the participation of the scientific community of SBS are highlighted at the Sociology Forum of the International Sociological Association (ISA) and the holding of the 20th Brazilian Congress of Sociology in the year 2021, both unprecedented events, in its online format.

AS POLÍTICAS DE AÇÃO AFIRMATIVA E A INSERÇÃO DE ESTUDANTES NEGROS E INDÍGENAS NA UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO AMAZONAS

The article now presented evidences the contributions of Universities for the implementation of affirmative policies, in the meantime, assesses affirmative policies for the admission of black people to higher education and makes an analysis of race relations within the scope of Brazilian Social Sciences. It highlights the contributions of Universities to the implementation of affirmative policies, in the meantime, it assesses affirmative policies for the admission of higher education to black people and analyzes the policies of racial equality in the current Brazilian context. It also explains that affirmative action policies, and the inclusion of black and indigenous students in Brazilian public universities, impose a contemporary challenge on higher education institutions, which unfolds in two aspects, which are fundamental for overcoming socio-educational inequalities and exclusions. First, the restructuring of educational spaces and practices, as well as the expansion of the conceptual field of its teachers, as well as measures such as the revision of curricular matrices, in the sense of inclusion in the curriculum in the knowledge of African, Afro-Brazilian and indigenous history and culture. in undergraduate and graduate courses, as indicated by Laws 10.639 / 03 and 11.645 / 08, they are an advance, as they make it possible to overcome socio-educational inequalities; o Second, the implementation of affirmative action policies aimed at guaranteeing social and economic reparation, establishing affirmative actions and emphasizing that vacancies and monitoring the academic life of black and black and indigenous students with a view to entering, staying and accurate completion be institutionally assumed by higher education institutions; concludes that it is fundamental, improving strategies to curb fraud through heteroidentification stands are fundamental for equal social and educational opportunities.

How Brazilian social scientists responded to the pandemic

Abstract In this article, we propose a critical and situational assessment of Brazilian social scientists’ production on the COVID pandemic. We take stock of production within the context of the pandemic, yet also go further to sketch out some of the general characteristics of scientific production within Brazilian social sciences. Our major reference is a publication that, from within the social sciences, initiated an entire movement toward public reflections on the pandemic: the Social Scientists and Coronavirus Bulletin. It was published on a daily basis under the auspices of the National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Social Sciences (Anpocs), in partnership with other scientific associations. We argue that social sciences’ reaction to the pandemic both engages and contrasts with the tradition of debates on health within our disciplines. We also offer a classification scheme for the wide range of texts written “in the heat of the moment” by social scientists, in their quest to understand the pandemic and its effects. Finally, we offer a brief and descriptive analysis of the Bulletin’s texts characteristics, unfolding into a larger discussion of the institutional transformations that have marked Brazilian social sciences.

O Novo na sua Face Sombria: Um balanço das análises sobre a ascensão da extrema direita no Brasil atual

The article undertakes a partial yet critical review of recent analyses regarding the government of Jair Bolsonaro and the so-called ‘bolsonarismo’ within the Brazilian social sciences. With this purpose, it places into dialogue analyses of the current Brazilian political situation that make use of the ideas of (neo)fascism, totalitarian neoliberalism, neo-backwardness and strategies of war, occupation and utilization of chaos as method of ruling. By means of the critical review of the literature, the article also aims at discussing a number of social tendencies in the Brazilian socio-political scenario and their connections to the global context. In its conclusion, the article points out advantages and limits of the approaches discussed, arguing that, the more the debate on ‘bolsonarismo’ in the Brazilian social sciences succeeds in comprehending the specificities of the Brazilian situation while also taking into account its connections with the course of contemporary world, the more consistent their account of the historical present becomes.

Entrevista com Carmen Junqueira

A primeira entrevista desta edição número 3 da Revista Fim do Mundo é com a antropóloga e professora emérita da PUC-SP, Dra. Carmen Junqueira. Seu vasto trabalho de campo junto aos povos indígenas e seu posicionamento em defesa das comunidades tradicionais a destacam como referência nas ciências sociais brasileira. A entrevista foi realizada pelo indigenista e pesquisador do IBEC, Daniel Lopes Faggiano.

Alteridade e raça entre África e Brasil: branquidade e descentramentos nas ciências sociais brasileiras

A partir da minha experiência de campo em Angola, busco problematizar a tradicional caracterização da antropologia brasileira - e por extensão das ciências sociais - como feita por “brasileiros” sobre o “Brasil”, refletindo sobre o novo perfil dos cientistas sociais quanto ao pertencimento étnico, racial e de classe que tem se pluralizado nos últimos 20 anos. Esta transformação do perfil dos cientistas sociais desafia a ideia de um “nós antropológico” centrado em uma ideia naciocêntrica que não reconhece sua posição de classe, raça e território, ou seja, branca, de classe média, oriunda ou socializada no sul/sudeste do país. Defendo o descentramento das ciências sociais brasileiras inspirada pelos novos movimentos de descolonização das ciências sociais. Esse descentramento passa pelo reconhecimento e politização da branquidade hegemônica das ciências sociais como condição para sua revisão crítica.

Current Situation. Attack on the Humanities and Social Sciences in Brazil

In the wake of President Jair Bolsonaro's recent attacks on philosophy and sociology in the higher education system, Émulations is pleased to welcome three experts for a cross-interview on the situation of human and social sciences in Brazil in light of the current political situation. This interview was conducted by Céline Mavrot and Romain Tiquet.
 Dans le cadre des attaques récentes du président Jair Bolsonaro à l’encontre de la philosophie et de la sociologie au sein du système d’éducation supérieure, Émulations reçoit trois spécialistes – Sidney Chalhoub, Marine Corde, Angela Facundo Navia – pour un entretien croisé sur la situation des sciences humaines et sociales au Brésil à la lumière de l’actualité politique du pays. Cet entretien a été réalisé par Céline Mavrot et Romain Tiquet.