SCIENCE, LITERATURE AND EDUCATION: THE UTOPIA MORENA IN DARCY RIBEIRO’S SOCIAL THOUGHT

Abstract

This paper discusses the work of Darcy Ribeiro, debating the spheres of his production as an anthropologist-social scientist, writer-essayist and his experience as an operator of the State, as well as his experience as one of the idealizers of Integrated Public Education Centers (Centros Integrados de Educação Pública). By analyzing O Mulo and O Povo Brasileiro, the intention of this article is to promote a reflection on his political-civilizing project, his perceptions of Brazil and the plurality of its ethnic matrices, called by Darcy Ribeiro as germinal peoples. The plot of rural sociabilities from the domains of landowners and their daily relationships with blacks, caboclos and caipiras demonstrates the ways in which the portrayed identities conceive an understanding of Brazil. Theories on the formation of the Latin-American peoples, and in particular Brazilians, find resonance in the project of the Integrated Public Education Centers, where the nobodies are the protagonists, through the access to a formal and cultural education. The centenary of his birth in 2022 demands a debate on a national project for social development and the foundations for a universalized and democratic public school of good quality.