“Change the Structure”: Josué de Castro, the Agrarian Reform and the 1964 Coup

The Pernambuco geographer Josué de Castro was a key figure in the fight against hunger in Brazil, as well as being active in various areas (he was a federal deputy for the PTB, president of the UN Council for Food and Agriculture, and an important player in the institutionalization of government apparatuses against hunger since the Estado Novo). He is therefore a privileged figure for understanding the period’s debates on the agrarian question, when it became a central element for the “development” of the country and the end of hunger. Based on the author’s career and ideas, we seek to show his engagement in the debates on agrarian reform in Brazil between the late 1950s and early 1960s, as well as linking the centrality that the issue had in the public space during the 1964 coup - themes that are little discussed in historiography.

Keywords:
Josué de Castro; Agrarian Reform; 1964 Coup; Brazil Republic