THE PRODUCTION OF THE SEMI-ARID NORTHEASTERN REGION BY SUDENE: STATE, TECHNICIANS AND DEVELOPMENTAL IMAGINATION OH THE REGIONAL SPACE (1960-1980)

• Grant number: 23/15531-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre de Freitas Barbosa
• Grantee: Darlan Praxedes Barboza
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros (IEB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Northeast Development Superintendency (Sudene) was created in 1959 to dismantle underdeveloped socioeconomic structures and create the infrastructural conditions necessary for the region's development. Influenced by the economic development planning experiences in vogue in several countries, the developmental institution repositioned the region within the nation and produced an optimistic vision about the economic potential of the northeastern territory. Sudene transformed the current view of the semi-arid region as a territory characterized by drought, scarcity of resources and underdevelopment, incorporating technological advances, training technical personnel and disseminating a new scientific discourse about its economic possibilities. In this research project, the creation of Sudene is seen as a watershed in the central State's style of action in the region and, particularly, in the semi-arid hinterland, producing new geographic and symbolic representations of the Northeast and implementing new policies. The research will analyze the controversies between political and technical groups and their respective scientific discourses around the interpretation of problems and solutions for the semi-arid northeastern region in the mid-20th century. It will also investigate Sudene's production of a developmental imaginary about the sub-region. Based on the sociogenetic methodology and conceptualization of Pierre Bourdieu, and on the tradition of Brazilian political-social thought that theorized about the coastal/sertão disjunctive as a central theme of reflection on Brazil and on the process of constitution of the central State as an agent that produces territorial imaginaries, the research will investigate the semi-arid region established by Sudene. The following main questions will be answered: did Sudene transform the balance of power and produce a new representation of the semi-arid northeast? How did the vast documentation produced by Sudene help to produce the region's developmental imaginary?