Gilberto Freyre
| Gilberto Freyre | |
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Gilberto Freyre. Circa 1975
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| Born | Gilberto de Mello Freyre March 15, 1900 Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil |
| Died | July 18, 1987 (aged 87) Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil |
| Fields | Sociology, Historian, Anthropology, Writer |
| Alma mater | Baylor University, Columbia University |
| Known for | Casa-Grande & Senzala |
| Notable awards | Prêmio Machado de Assis, Prêmio Jabuti |
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Gilberto de Mello Freyre KBE (March 15, 1900 – July 18, 1987) was a Brazilian sociologist, anthropologist, historian, writer, painter, journalist and congressman, born in Recife, Northeast Brazil. He is commonly associated with other great Brazilian cultural interpreters of the first half of the 20th century, such as Sérgio Buarque de Holanda and Caio Prado Júnior. His best-known work is a sociological treatise named Casa-Grande & Senzala (variously translated, but roughly The Masters and the Slaves, as on a traditional plantation). Two sequels followed, The Mansions & the Shanties: The Making of Modern Brazil and Order & Progress: Brazil from Monarchy to Republic. The trilogy is generally considered a classic of modern cultural anthropology and social history, although it is not without its critics.
Like other Latin-American intellectuals, Freyre had an internationalist and precocious academic career, having studied at Baylor University, Texas from the age of eighteen and then at Columbia University, where he got his master's degree under the tutelage of William Shepperd. At Columbia Freyre was a student of the anthropologist Franz Boas. After coming back to Recife in 1923, Freyre spearheaded a handful of writers of the so-called Regionalista Movement. After working extensively as a journalist, he was made Head of Cabinet of the Governor of the State of Pernambuco, Estácio Coimbra. With the 1930 revolution and the rise of Getúlio Vargas, both Coimbra and Freyre went into exile. Freyre went first to Portugal and then to the US, where he worked as Visiting Professor at Stanford. By 1932, Freyre had returned to Brazil. In 1933, Freyre's best-known work, The Masters and the Slaves was published and was well received. In 1946, Freyre was elected to the federal Congress. At various times, Freyre also served as director of the newspapers A Província and Diario de Pernambuco.
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