HAR is pleased to announce one of the latest releases from BEROSE International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology: an article (in Portuguese) on Brazilian urban anthropologist, feminist and politician Ruth Cardoso.
Gregori, Maria Filomena, 2024. “Retrato intelectual de Ruth Cardoso: trajetórias entre a antropologia urbana, o feminismo e a política,” in BEROSE International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology, Paris.
Brazilian anthropologist Ruth Cardoso (1930–2008), who attended one of the first classes of social sciences at the University of São Paulo, lectured and conducted research at various national and international educational institutions throughout her life. In 1988, she obtained a postdoctorate degree from Columbia University in New York. In this pathbreaking article published as part of the research theme “Histories of Anthropology in Brazil,” Maria Filomena Gregori (University of Campinas, Brazil), presents Ruth Cardoso as a prominent representative of a golden generation that consolidated urban anthropology in Brazil. Cardoso’s work brings together ethnographic contributions on favelas and low-income communities, as well as analytical approaches to urban social movements. In consistent dialogue with authors such as Manuel Castells and Alain Touraine, her writings have drawn attention to the identity processes that are forged in the social networks that constitute political subjects, pointing out their effects on rethinking citizenship in an intellectual environment still contaminated by theories of marginality, dependency theory and the fears resulting from the authoritarianism that plagued Brazil during two periods: the Estado Novo established by Getúlio Vargas between 1937 and 1945, and the civil-military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. In addition to her academic profile, the article points out Cardoso’s trajectories between feminism and politics, which resulted in her unique performance as First Lady of Brazil between 1995 and 2002, when she conceived and presided over the “Solidarity Community Program”, a project that bears fruit to this day.
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