By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
The historian and anthropologist from Pernambuco Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987) was one of the greatest intellectuals and interpreters of Brazil. Freyre was, alongside men like Sílvio Romero, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, Raymundo Faoro and Antônio Cândido, one of the best connoisseurs and thinkers of Brazilian culture. His trilogy entitled “Introduction to the Patriarchal Society in Brazil”, whose first volume is “Casa-Grande &Senzala ”, published in 1933, is among the must-read works to learn about the formation of Brazilian society.
The difference between Freyre's thinking, of “Freyre's Brazil”, and that of other intellectuals who dedicated themselves to the same task lies in the fact that the Pernambuco researcher made use of methods for the composition of his works, something hitherto unheard of in Brazil and in several intellectual centers around the world. While researchers imbued themselves with theoretical knowledge, such as Marxism and the comparative sociology of Max Weber or even the positivist and scientistic theses to evaluate the formation of Brazilian society, Freyre made use of techniques of social anthropology learned during his stay in the United States. , where he studied with intellectuals such as Franz Good.
Furthermore, the themes chosen by Freyre, such as the intimacy of private life (sexual life, types of cuisine, composition of eating habits, collective social behaviors, modes of dress, etc. ), were unprecedented and greatly enriched the interpretative framework of the Brazilian people. As Freyre's framework of analysis was very vast, spanning from the 17th to the 19th century, he made use of all kinds of documentation, not just official written documents – a fact that was also revolutionary at the time. Some say that Freyre anticipated the historical research techniques that would be developed in the 1970s and 1980s by the third generation of the Escola dos Annales French.
Below is an excerpt from the aforementioned work, “Casa-Grande &Senzala”, which gives a summary of “Brazil by Gilberto Freyre”, and the content of its interpretation:
“Hybrid from the beginning, Brazilian society is, of all of the Americas, the one that was most harmoniously constituted in terms of race relations:within an environment of almost cultural reciprocity that resulted in the most of taking advantage of the values and experiences of the backward peoples by the advanced ones; in the maximum of contemporization of the adventitious culture with the native one, that of the conqueror with that of the conquered. A Christian society was organized in the superstructure, with the newly baptized indigenous woman as wife and mother of the family; and using in its economy and domestic life many of the traditions, experiences and tools of the indigenous people.” (FREYRE, Gilberto. Casa-grande &Senzala:formation of the Brazilian family under the regime of the patriarchal economy . 49th Ed. São Paulo:Global 2004. p. 160)
* Image credits:Institute Millenium