The nation divided between the practice and the ideal: projects of Monteiro Lobato and José Enrique Rodó

• Grant number: 09/07164-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2010
• End date: March 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Célia Aparecida Ferreira Tolentino
• Grantee: Elisângela da Silva Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This study illustrates a comparative analysis of thoughts and projects of the Brazilian thinker Monteiro Lobato (1882-1948) and of the Uruguayan thinker José Enrique Rodó(1871-1917). The formation of this nation at the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth centuryis depicted in their writing. These authors illustrated an attempt to build models for the nation address challenges arising from social, economic, cultural and ethnic diversity; they were interested in interpreting the world in which they lived, and at the same time, in propose alternatives believed to be beneficial for development, both material and spiritual of their respective societies. Through the use of comparison, we noticed discrepancies and different meanings of their respective national projects: to Lobato it was more important to strengthen the economy of Brazil, develop the productive and concrete capacities of the country, to offer its inhabitants a technical and rationalized education according to the demands of the modernization process, to Rodó, it was more important to strengthen the intellectual basis of Uruguay and the rest of the Continent, expand the capacity of thinking, without the submission to the economic and social materialist model imposed mainly by the United States. What mattered was a spiritual return and the development of an universalist culture. Therefore, the nation would be divided in the thoughts of these authors between the practice and the ideal. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

SANTOS, Elisângela da Silva. A nação escrita entre a prática e o ideal: os projetos de Monteiro Lobato e de José Enrique Rodó. 2013. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências. Marília Marília.