Brazilianist
Encyclopedia
Brazilianist typically is a non-Brazilian scholar, usually but not exclusively from North America
, who specializes in studying, researching, teaching and publishing about Brazilian history, geography, culture, politics and/or language(s).
There is great diversity of interests amongst Brazilianists. Some have concentrated on the Brazilian colonial period
, for example. Many have been deeply intrigued by the Getúlio Vargas
dictatorship period. Professor Frederick C. Luebke wrote Germans in Brazil: A Comparative History of Cultural Conflict During World War I (1987).
in the 1960s or perhaps a little earlier and was coined to designate scholars from the United States of America who were receiving grants to study Brazil at the time when the U.S. had special political interests in that country. However, that is a view perhaps a little too narrow as to the motivating factors which led these many social scientists to do research on Brazilian issues.
In the 1970s and well into the 1980s when the US-Brazilian relations cooled off the Brazilian press gave much attention to Brazilianists themselves but not much was discussed about their arguments and findings. At that time the term Brazilianist more frequently had somewhat of a pejorative tone.
In more recent years there has been a greater acknowledgment of the body of works produced by the Brazilianist scholars. Starting in the 1990s the works of Brazilianist began to be actively introduced in the curricula of major Brazilian universities.
As we entered the new millennium some Brazilian scholars are utilizing the term in a more broad fashion by naming a Brazilianist any non-Brazilian social scientist
studying Brazil. However, the more traditional meaning of the term prevails as of 2004. Therefore, it shouldn’t be surprising that not all Brazilianists embrace the title cheerfully. Today some of the works produced by Brazilianists are known well beyond the academic circles in Brazil.
The fact is that French, German, and other scholars doing the same type of research still are recognized by their academic discipline
for the most part, such as anthropologist, instead of Brazilianist. This very is problematic to some.
Dictionaries have been reluctant to adopt the term Brazilianist both in the United States and in Brazil. Meanwhile, if the term is practically unknown to most North Americans, many in Brazil are quite familiar with its general meaning.
Brazilianist is also the title of a Canadian online magazine
. Its mission is to present Brazil to the international community; to promote a better understanding of this exciting country, uncovering the most interesting and resonant stories and news about business, technology, people and ideas that are transforming Brazil; to talk about current issues and to present the perspectives of people who understand Brazil in-depth: "Brasileiros" and "Brazilianists". The Brazilianist Online is indeed a publication for everyone who is interested in knowing more about the Brazil of today and keeping abreast of the Brazil of tomorrow.
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, who specializes in studying, researching, teaching and publishing about Brazilian history, geography, culture, politics and/or language(s).
There is great diversity of interests amongst Brazilianists. Some have concentrated on the Brazilian colonial period
History of Brazil
The history of Brazil begins with the arrival of the first indigenous peoples, thousands of years ago by crossing the Bering land bridge into Alaska and then moving south....
, for example. Many have been deeply intrigued by the Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history to Emperor Pedro II...
dictatorship period. Professor Frederick C. Luebke wrote Germans in Brazil: A Comparative History of Cultural Conflict During World War I (1987).
Origins and use of the term
The term "Brazilianist" supposedly originated in BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
in the 1960s or perhaps a little earlier and was coined to designate scholars from the United States of America who were receiving grants to study Brazil at the time when the U.S. had special political interests in that country. However, that is a view perhaps a little too narrow as to the motivating factors which led these many social scientists to do research on Brazilian issues.
In the 1970s and well into the 1980s when the US-Brazilian relations cooled off the Brazilian press gave much attention to Brazilianists themselves but not much was discussed about their arguments and findings. At that time the term Brazilianist more frequently had somewhat of a pejorative tone.
In more recent years there has been a greater acknowledgment of the body of works produced by the Brazilianist scholars. Starting in the 1990s the works of Brazilianist began to be actively introduced in the curricula of major Brazilian universities.
As we entered the new millennium some Brazilian scholars are utilizing the term in a more broad fashion by naming a Brazilianist any non-Brazilian social scientist
Social Scientist
Social Scientist is a New Delhi based journal in social sciences and humanities published since 1972....
studying Brazil. However, the more traditional meaning of the term prevails as of 2004. Therefore, it shouldn’t be surprising that not all Brazilianists embrace the title cheerfully. Today some of the works produced by Brazilianists are known well beyond the academic circles in Brazil.
The fact is that French, German, and other scholars doing the same type of research still are recognized by their academic discipline
Academic discipline
An academic discipline, or field of study, is a branch of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined , and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned societies and academic departments or faculties to...
for the most part, such as anthropologist, instead of Brazilianist. This very is problematic to some.
Dictionaries have been reluctant to adopt the term Brazilianist both in the United States and in Brazil. Meanwhile, if the term is practically unknown to most North Americans, many in Brazil are quite familiar with its general meaning.
Brazilianist is also the title of a Canadian online magazine
Online magazine
An online magazine shares some features with a blog and also with online newspapers, but can usually be distinguished by its approach to editorial control...
. Its mission is to present Brazil to the international community; to promote a better understanding of this exciting country, uncovering the most interesting and resonant stories and news about business, technology, people and ideas that are transforming Brazil; to talk about current issues and to present the perspectives of people who understand Brazil in-depth: "Brasileiros" and "Brazilianists". The Brazilianist Online is indeed a publication for everyone who is interested in knowing more about the Brazil of today and keeping abreast of the Brazil of tomorrow.
List of notable Brazilianists
The following is a partial list of people who have studied Brazil in a multi-disciplinary fashion and can be considered Brazilianists.- Herbert Baldus
- Roger BastideRoger BastideRoger Bastide was a French sociologist and anthropologist, specialist in sociology and Brazilian literature.The character Agliè in Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum bears resemblance to Roger Bastide....
- Bertha Becker
- Leslie BethellLeslie BethellLeslie Michael Bethell is an English historian, university professor, and Brazilianist who specializes in the study of 19th and 20th Century Latin America, emphasizing on Brazil in particular. He received both his Bachelor of Arts and Doctorate in History at the University of London...
- Jean BlondelJean BlondelJean Blondel is a French political scientist specialising in comparative politics. He is currently Emeritus Professor at the European University Institute in Florence, and visiting professor at the University of Siena....
- George C. Boehrer
- Charles Boxer
- Thomas Bruneau
- Helen CaldwellHelen CaldwellHelen Caldwell is a scholar and Brazilianist from California. Her work focuses on the 19th century Brazilian writer Machado de Assis. She completed the first English translation of Dom Casmurro, published in 1953. Her most famous work is Machado de Assis: The Brazilian Master and His Novels...
- Robert Carneiro
- Billy James Chandler
- Ronald H. Chilcote
- Helene Clastres
- David Cleary
- Roger Edgar Conrad
- Shelton H. DavisShelton H. DavisShelton H. Davis was a Sector Manager in the Social Development Unit, Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development, Latin America and Caribbean Region at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. where he was responsible for the Bank's work on social development, including tribal and indigenous...
- Warren DeanWarren DeanWarren Dean is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne in the Victorian Football League during the late 1980s....
- Pierre Deffontaines
- Carl N. DeglerCarl N. DeglerCarl Neumann Degler is an American historian. Degler is a past president of the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association and the Southern Historical Association...
- Ralph Della Cava
- Andrew Draffen
- W. J. Foster Dulles
- Marshall Eakins
- Peter Louis Eisenberg
- Kenneth Paul Erickson
- Peter B. Evans
- Philip Fernside
- David Verge Fleischer
- Roger Fontaine
- Shepard L. Forman
- Joe W. Foweraker
- Peter Henry Fry
- Hans Fuchtner
- Richard GrahamRichard GrahamRichard Graham is a Brazilian/American historian specializing in nineteenth-century Brazil. He was formerly Professor of History, University of Texas at Austin, and is now professor emeritus there.-Works:...
- James N. Green
- Thomas Gregor
- June Edith Hahner
- Michael HallMichael HallMike Hall , is a former Welsh rugby union international, now property developer and part time rugby pundit....
- Laurence Hallewell
- John HemmingJohn Hemming (explorer)Dr John Hemming, CMG is a Canadian explorer and author, expert on Incas and indigenous peoples of Amazonia.-Biography:Hemming was born in Vancouver because his Canadian father, Henry Harold Hemming OBE, MC, had been through the trenches in the First World War, saw the Second coming, and wanted him...
- Stanley E. Hilton
- Thomas Helsey Holloway
- Bertram Hutchinson
- Andrew Kirkendall
- Herbert S. Klein
- Clark S. Knolwton
- Gerd Kohlhepp
- Boris Koval
- Jacques LambertJacques LambertJacques Georges Lambert was a French architect.At the art competitions of the 1928 Olympic Games he won a silver medal in town planning and a bronze medal in architectural design both for his "The Versailles Stadium".-External links:*...
- Ruth LandesRuth LandesRuth Landes was an American cultural anthropologist best known for studies on Brazilian candomblé cults and her published study on the topic, City of Women...
- Ludwig Lauerhass Jr
- William McDonald Ledingham
- Anthony LeedsAnthony LeedsAnthony Leeds was an anthropologist best known for his work in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and on urban-rural relations in Brazil. He was born in New York City on January 26, 1925 and received a BA in anthropology from Columbia University in 1949...
- Spencer Leitman
- Jeffrey Lesser
- Darrell E. Levi
- Robert Levine
- Claude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....
- Robert Linhart
- Mario G. Losano
- Joseph L. Love
- Thomas LovejoyThomas LovejoyDr. Thomas Eugene Lovejoy III is chief biodiversity adviser to the president of the World Bank, senior adviser to the president of the United Nations Foundation, and president of the Heinz Center for Science,...
- Samuel H. Lowrie
- Frederick C. Luebke
- Anton Lukesch
- Neill Macaulay
- Scott Mainwaring
- James M. Malloy
- Alan Krebs Manchester
- Sheldon L. Maram
- Alexander Marchant
- Kenneth MaxwellKenneth MaxwellKenneth Robert Maxwell is a British historian who specializes in Iberia and Latin America. A longtime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, for fifteen years he headed its Latin America Studies Program...
- David Maybury-LewisDavid Maybury-LewisDavid Henry Peter Maybury-Lewis was an anthropologist, ethnologist of lowland South America, activist for indigenous peoples' human rights and professor emeritus of Harvard University....
- Frank Daniel McCann Jr
- Peter J. McDonough
- Betty Jane Meggers
- Alfred MetrauxAlfred MetrauxAlfred Métraux was a Swiss anthropologist and human rights leader.-Early life:Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Metraux spent much of his childhood in Argentina where his father was a well known surgeon resident in Mendoza. His mother was a Georgian from Tbilisi...
- Pierre Monbeig
- Richard M. Morse
- Jean Baptiste Nardi
- Roy Nash
- Daniel Nepsted
- Curt Unkel Nimuendaju
- Eul-Soo Pang
- Phyllis Parker
- Janice E. Perlman
- Daniel Pecaut
- Donald Pierson
- Ezekiel S. Ramirez
- Paul RivetPaul RivetPaul Rivet was a French ethnologist, who founded the Musée de l'Homme in 1937. He was also one of the founders of the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes, an antifascist organization created in the wake of the February 6, 1934 far right riots.Rivet proposed a theory according to...
- Jean Roche
- Riordan RoettRiordan RoettRiordan Roett, is an American political scientist specializing in Latin America. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in Political Science and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
- Anthony John R. Russell-Wood
- Wayne Selcher
- Wilhelm SchmidtWilhelm SchmidtWilhelm Schmidt was an Austrian linguist, anthropologist, and ethnologist.Wilhelm Schmidt was born in Hörde, Germany in 1868. He entered the Society of the Divine Word in 1890 and was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1892. He studied linguistics at the universities of Berlin and...
- Philippe C. SchmitterPhilippe C. SchmitterPhilippe C. Schmitter is an Emeritus Professor of the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute....
- Ronald Schneider
- Stuart Schwartz
- Anthony Seeger
- Robert Weaver Shirley
- Thomas SkidmoreThomas SkidmoreThomas Elliot Skidmore is a noted historian and scholar specialized in Brazilian history.-Biography:Skidmore graduated in political science and philosophy in 1954 from Denison University. He received a Fulbright Fellowship to study philosophy at Oxford University where he met his wife Felicity. He...
- T. Lynn Smith
- Stanley J. Stein
- Alfred StepanAlfred StepanAlfred C. Stepan is a comparative political scientist and Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government at Columbia University, where he is also director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion....
- Nancy Stepan
- Verena Stolcke
- Georg ThomasGeorg ThomasGeorg Thomas was a German general and a resistance fighter in the Third Reich. He was also heavily involved in the planning and carrying out of the economic exploitation of the Soviet Union, including in particular the Hunger Plan.- Career summary :Thomas was born in Forst , Brandenburg...
- Angelo Trento
- Pierre Fatumbi Verger
- Charles WagleyCharles WagleyCharles Wagley was an American anthropologist and leading pioneer in the development of Brazilian anthropology. Wagley began graduate work in the 1930s at Columbia University, where he fell under the spell of Franz Boas and what later became known as the "historical particularist” mode of...
- Hermann Watjen
- Emilio Willems
- John WirthJohn WirthJohn Davis Wirth was the Gildred Professor of Latin American Studies at Stanford University. Wirth earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1958 and a doctorate in Latin American history in 1967 from Stanford. His dissertation was entitled Brazilian economic nationalism: trade and...
- Jordan Marten Young
- Jean ZieglerJean ZieglerJean Ziegler is a former professor of sociology at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne, Paris. He was a Member of Parliament for the Social Democrats in the Federal Assembly of Switzerland from 1981 to 1999...
External links
- The Brazilianist Online
- Brasilianismo, Brazilianists e Discursos Brasileiros (Brazilianism, Brazilianists and Brazilian Discourses) (PDF) by Fernanda Peixoto Massi.