SYNCHRONIC ORBITS: SOCIOLOGISTS AND BLACK INTELECTUALS IN SÃO PAULO, 1950s -1970s

Abstract

In this article, I discuss the relations established between a generation of sociologists from São Paulo, researchers on the subject of race relations in Brazil between the 1950s and 1970s, with black activists and black intellectuals in the same city. The focus is on the connection between Florestan Fernandes and the Associação Cultural do Negro, which allows me to shift back and forward in time, highlighting other important figures, such as Roger Bastide, Virgínia Leone Bicudo, Octavio Ianni, Eduardo de Oliveira e Oliveira, among others. My hypothesis is close relations were formed around the political projects for social change rooted in the antiracist struggle that made this alliance possible, until the situation changed with the 1964 civil-military coup in Brazil.

Keywords
Black intellectuals; activism; antiracist struggle; Florestan Fernades; Associação Cultural do Negro