Educator Carlos Rodrigues Brandão: death or life?

This text celebrates the ideas and legacy of educator Carlos Rodrigues Brandão, who unfortunately died on July 12, 2023. To honor Brandão, we chose to take as a basis the work entitled O educador: vida e morte (The Educator: Life and Death), which completed 42 years and served as inspiration for the title of this text. Indeed, the distance of time does not erase the educator’s spirit of a loving and libertarian vocation. Brandão ruthlessly criticized social injustices while indicating daily outlets for emancipatory educational work. Brandão’s thought has not withered; poetic and amusing, it remains alive and flourishing among us. As in the reflection of Rubem Alves (1983, p. 17): “And the educator, did he die? Educators are like old trees. They have a face, a name, a story to be told.”

Keywords:
Carlos Rodrigues Brandão; emancipatory education; libertarian pedagogy