Papers by Pedro Afonso Cristovão dos Santos
Topoi (Rio de Janeiro)
RESUMO O presente artigo parte de debate ocorrido na segunda metade do século XIX na historiograf... more RESUMO O presente artigo parte de debate ocorrido na segunda metade do século XIX na historiografia brasileira a respeito de qual deveria ser o ponto de partida de uma narrativa da história do Brasil: a Europa (por meio do contexto da expansão europeia e das Grandes Navegações) ou a América (descrevendo-se, primeiramente, o território e as populações indígenas). Este debate envolvia a questão de definir os “antecedentes” da história do Brasil, assumindo para a história uma lógica narrativa dotada de implicações. O processo histórico assim escolhido definia um “centro” para a história do Brasil, que poderia ser “interno” (território e populações indígenas) ou “externo” (Europa, ou processo de expansão do capitalismo comercial). Aqui, buscamos analisar as implicações dessa tríade teórica antecedentes-processo-centro na historiografia de formação brasileira à luz, por fim, de reavaliações possíveis do lugar e papel das populações indígenas e da natureza na história.
On the origins of the word `Brazil': global circulation of erudite questions and styles of reasoning in the nineteenth century, 2022
This paper analyses the nineteenth-century erudite style of
reasoning within the scope of a histo... more This paper analyses the nineteenth-century erudite style of
reasoning within the scope of a historical debate over the origins
of the name Brazil. In order to do so, we present and discuss how
this style of reasoning was applied in an erudite text – Questões
Americanas (American Issues) -, read in a Brazilian historical society
in 1863, and published in the review of the society in 1866. The
essay was written by a nineteenth-century Brazilian scholar,
Joaquim Caetano da Silva (1810-1873). His main hypothesis for
the origin of the word ‘Brazil’ was that its meaning derived from
words in Asian languages that designated the brazilwood, similar
to the one abundant in the region conquered by the Portuguese
in early sixteenth century. We examine how discovering the Asian
origins of ‘Brazil’ and positioning the history of his country’s
name in a context of medieval and early modern global
commercial exchange were instrumental for an attempt to
question and discredit an alleged French origin for the name, in a
period in which Brazil was countering French imperialism at the
same time as it was deeply influenced by French culture and
institutions.
Topoi, 2022
O presente artigo parte de debate ocorrido na segunda metade do século XIX na historiografia bras... more O presente artigo parte de debate ocorrido na segunda metade do século XIX na historiografia brasileira a respeito de qual deveria ser o ponto de partida de uma narrativa da história do Brasil: a Europa (por meio do contexto da expansão europeia e das Grandes Navegações) ou a América (descrevendo-se, primeiramente, o território e as populações indígenas). Este debate envolvia a questão de definir os “antecedentes” da história do Brasil, assumindo para a história uma lógica narrativa dotada de implicações. O processo histórico assim escolhido definia um “centro” para a história do Brasil, que poderia ser “interno” (território e populações indígenas) ou “externo” (Europa, ou processo de expansão do capitalismo comercial). Aqui, buscamos analisar as implicações dessa tríade teórica antecedentes-processo-centro na historiografia de formação brasileira à luz, por fim, de reavaliações possíveis do lugar e papel das populações indígenas e da natureza na história.
Journal of the History of Ideas, 2023
This article analyzes some of the issues raised by historians after turning to computers for hist... more This article analyzes some of the issues raised by historians after turning to computers for historical research in the 1960s and 1970s. The main point is to enrich this context by looking into the debates computer programmers were having in their own field at the same time. In particular, the use of formal languages to enhance the theoretical basis of both practices is discussed. A second point, the debates in programming, is also highlighted: as historians were turning to computer programming, programmers were becoming historians of their own practice, engaged in methodological discussions on how to write their history.
Global Intellectual History, 2022
This paper analyses the nineteenth-century erudite style of reasoning within the scope of a histo... more This paper analyses the nineteenth-century erudite style of reasoning within the scope of a historical debate over the origins of the name Brazil. In order to do so, we present and discuss how this style of reasoning was applied in an erudite text – Questões Americanas (American Issues) -, read in a Brazilian historical society in 1863, and published in the review of the society in 1866. The essay was written by a nineteenth-century Brazilian scholar, Joaquim Caetano da Silva (1810-1873). His main hypothesis for the origin of the word ‘Brazil’ was that its meaning derived from words in Asian languages that designated the brazilwood, similar to the one abundant in the region conquered by the Portuguese in early sixteenth century. We examine how discovering the Asian origins of ‘Brazil’ and positioning the history of his country’s name in a context of medieval and early modern global commercial exchange were instrumental for an attempt to question and discredit an alleged French origin for the name, in a period in which Brazil was countering French imperialism at the same time as it was deeply influenced by French culture and institutions.
History and Theory, 2015
This article assesses the meanings of the term “historiography” in Brazilian historiography from ... more This article assesses the meanings of the term “historiography” in Brazilian historiography from the late nineteenth century to circa 1950, suggesting that its use plays an essential role in the process of the disciplinarization and legitimation of history as a discipline. The global-scale comparison, taking into consideration occurrences of the term in German, Spanish, and French, reveals that use of the term took place simultaneously worldwide. The term “historiography” underwent a significant change globally, having become independent from the modern concept of history, shifting away from the political and social dimensions of the writing of history in the nineteenth century and unfolding into a metacritical concept. Such a process enables historians to technically distinguish at least three semantic modulations of the term: 1. history as a living experience; 2. the writing or narration of history; and 3. the critical study of historical narratives. Based on the Brazilian experience, it is possible to think of the “historiography” category as an index of the transformations of the modern concept of history itself between the 1870s and 1940s, a period of intense modification of the experience and expectations of the writing of professional historical scholarship on a global scale.
Estudos Históricos (Rio de Janeiro), 2017
Resumo O presente artigo discute questões teóricas envolvidas na reflexão sobre a história da his... more Resumo O presente artigo discute questões teóricas envolvidas na reflexão sobre a história da historiografia a partir das perspectivas global/transnacional. Examinando estudos de historiografia em contextos distintos, pensados em particular a partir dos estudos subalternos e dos estudos pós-coloniais, o artigo pondera o problema do uso de uma concepção de história e de historiografia gerada na Europa como base para uma reflexão global. Indagando as formas como essa prática historiográfica de matriz europeia viajou e foi apropriada em diferentes contextos, nossa pesquisa procura explorar as possibilidades de pensar a dinâmica centro-periferia para a produção do conhecimento histórico. Concomitantemente, o artigo estuda uma questão relevante colocada, em especial, pela história da historiografia preocupada com tradições periféricas: como pensar representações do passado não-ocidentais (como as de culturas indígenas) dentro da história da historiografia, ou em relação a esta, sem estab...
Revista do Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros, 2010
This article seeks to reflect on the tensions internal to the modern conception of history throug... more This article seeks to reflect on the tensions internal to the modern conception of history through two important texts concerning Brazilian historiography and the writing of Brazilian history: Capistrano de Abreu's Necrológio de Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen (1878) and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda's O pensamento histórico no Brasil nos últimos cinquenta anos (1951). Considering both in the light of the modern conception of history, as representatives of a new experience of time, characterized by the difference towards the past, and by a new horizon of expectations about the future, which changes the way history is written, we see them both marked by tensions such as particular studies and synthesis, theory and empirical work, objectivity and subjectivity, still relevant to historians.
Revista de História, 2010
* Este artigo procede de uma re-elaboração de parte do segundo capítulo de nossa dissertação de M... more * Este artigo procede de uma re-elaboração de parte do segundo capítulo de nossa dissertação de Mestrado, História erudita e popular: edição de documentos históricos na obra de Capistrano de Abreu. FFLCH/USP, 2009. Agradeço ao CNPq pelo apoio financeiro concedido à pesquisa. Resumo Este artigo estuda as edições de documentos históricos a cargo do historiador João Capistrano de Abreu (1853-1927) na Coleção Materiais e achegas para a história e geografia do Brasil (1886-1887). No estudo, examinamos as notas de rodapé de Capistrano, assinalando a forma como o autor prepara, por meio delas, os textos editados para serem lidos enquanto fontes.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History
The founding of the first universities in the first decades of the 20th century in Brazil emerged... more The founding of the first universities in the first decades of the 20th century in Brazil emerged from a context of public education reforms and expansion that modified the relationship between intellectuals and the public sphere in Brazil. The representation of national pasts was the object of prolific public debate in the social sciences and literature and fine arts through social and historical essays, pushed mostly from the 1920’s to the 1950’s, such as Gilberto Freyre’s, The Master and the Slaves (Casa Grande e Senzala, 1936) and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda’s Roots of Brazil (Raízes do Brasil, 1936). Just after the 1950s, universities expanded nationally, and new resources were available for academic and scientific production, such as libraries, archives, scientific journals, and funding agencies (namely CNPQ, CAPES and FAPESP). In the field of history, these effects would have a greater impact in the 1960s and 1970s with the consolidation of a National Association of History, th...
OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY, 2020
The founding of the first universities in the first decades of the 20th century in Brazil emerged... more The founding of the first universities in the first decades of the 20th century in Brazil emerged from a context of public education reforms and expansion that modified the rela tionship between intellectuals and the public sphere in Brazil. The representation of na tional pasts was the object of prolific public debate in the social sciences and literature and fine arts through social and historical essays, pushed mostly from the 1920’s to the 1950’s, such as Gilberto Freyre’s, The Master and the Slaves (Casa Grande e Senzala, 1936) and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda’s Roots of Brazil (Raízes do Brasil, 1936). Just af ter the 1950s, universities expanded nationally, and new resources were available for aca demic and scientific production, such as libraries, archives, scientific journals, and fund ing agencies (namely CNPQ, CAPES and FAPESP). In the field of history, these effects would have a greater impact in the 1960s and 1970s with the consolidation of a National Association of History, the debate over curricula and required content, and the systemati zation of graduate programs (thanks to the University Reform of 1968, during the mili tary dictatorship). Theses, dissertations, and monographs gradually gained ground as long social essays lost their prestige, seen as not befitting the standards of disciplinary historiography as defined in the graduate programs such as a wider empirical ground and more accurate time frames and scopes. Through their writing in more specialized for mats, which moved away from essays and looked into the great Brazilian historical prob lems, historians played an important role in the resistance against the authoritarian regime (1964–1985) and, above all, contributed to a debate on the role of silenced minori ties regarding redemocratization.
Oxford Encyclopedia in Latin American History, 2020
Brazilian historiography in the 19th century stands for a variety of practices and ways of doing ... more Brazilian historiography in the 19th century stands for a variety of practices and ways of doing history. In the beginning of the century, the writing of history assumed a specific color after the arrival of the Portuguese Court in 1808, who were escaping the invasion of Portugal by Napoleonic troops. After political independence from Portugal (1822), this writing had to deal with the questions that occupied the minds of its authors, people mostly close to or part of the political elite of the country. Forging a nationality through history, dealing with the tensions between local affiliations and the nation-state, placing indigenous and African peoples in the historical narrative, combining an exemplary histo ry with future-oriented thinking, and using history for international relations issues (such as boundaries disputes) were among the motivations and preoccupations involved in that work. Underlying it all, the myriad ways of writing history in the 19th century had to do with the ways the authors circulated among a world of public archives in the making, per sonal archives available through certain connections, booksellers, publishers, oral infor mants, and a changing community of readers and critics that were conforming and dis puting rules of acceptability as to what could be considered a work of history. Thinking about the Brazilian historiography of the 1800s as a way of combining practices of archiv ing, reading, copying, writing, and evaluating can help us understand the remarkable va riety of histories and historiographical works written in the period.
Resumo: O presente artigo analisa a obra Memórias do Distrito Diamantino (1868), de Joaquim Felíc... more Resumo: O presente artigo analisa a obra Memórias do Distrito Diamantino (1868), de Joaquim Felício dos Santos (1822-1895), sob o ponto de vista da loca-lização das fontes e seu uso por parte do autor. O artigo investiga as possibili-dades de escrita de histórias regionais no Segundo Império, refletindo sobre as potenciais limitações que o envio de documentos das províncias para a Corte (bem como as remessas para Lisboa, no período colonial, e para outros centros regionais, como Ouro Preto, no caso das Memórias analisadas) poderia trazer para os historiadores, e suas formas de superá-las. Tal delimitação geográfica, tanto do objeto de estudo da obra como dos arquivos à disposição do autor, poderia levar a uma consideração maior, por exemplo, das tradições orais locais como fontes. Por outro lado, a inserção do autor na sua região (como a de Joa-quim Felício no Distrito Diamantino) se traduz em uma posição determinada a partir da qual o autor avalia e hierarquiza as evidências históricas com as quais trabalha. O artigo propõe, nessa linha, uma discussão sobre as evidências a partir das reflexões de François Hartog. Palavras-chave: Historiografia. Brasil império. História regional. Fontes históricas.
A história da historiografia produzida no Brasil vive sob o signo de um paradoxo: a maioria dos e... more A história da historiografia produzida no Brasil vive sob o signo de um paradoxo: a maioria dos estudos produzidos tem como fonte e/ou objeto problemas, autores e/ou obras abordadas de uma perspectiva nacional/local; mas, ao mesmo tempo, essas fontes/objetos estão, do ponto de vista de sua historicidade, inseridas em “redes” transnacionais e/ou globais. Tendo em vista esse paradoxo, o presente artigo procura propor e apresentar reflexões teóricas sobre a possibilidade de pensar e produzir a história da historiografia em perspectiva transnacional, considerando em particular a história da historiografia latino-americana nessa perspectiva. Ao mesmo tempo, a fim de refletir sobre o referido paradoxo, fazemos considerações sobre algumas aporias que se colocam frente ao problema da inserção de distintas formas de representação do passado nessa história. Procuramos sintetizar algumas perspectivas a fim de problematizar, por um lado, uma história da historiografia fechada dentro das lógicas da nação e, por outro, uma “história intelectual global” pouco cuidadosa no que se refere às condições assimetrias de diversos tipos e eventualmente pouco atenta as ambiguidades encerradas no próprio conceito de modernidade e seus correlatos.
Este artigo estuda as edições de documentos históricos a cargo do historiador João Capistrano de ... more Este artigo estuda as edições de documentos históricos a cargo do historiador João Capistrano de Abreu (1853-1927) na coleção Materiais e achegas para a história e geografia do Brasil (1886-1887). No estudo, examinamos as notas de rodapé de Capistrano, assinalando a forma como o autor prepara, por meio delas, os textos editados para serem lidos enquanto fontes.
Resumo Retomando a perspectiva de Manoel Luiz Salgado Guimarães a respeito da escrita da história... more Resumo Retomando a perspectiva de Manoel Luiz Salgado Guimarães a respeito da escrita da história no Brasil no século XIX como um campo de disputas em aberto, " um debate que se travava sem que o vencedor estivesse definido a priori " , buscamos recuperar uma forma de escrita da história relegada a segundo plano naquele contexto, presente em dois autores que tiveram obras suas consideradas plágio no Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro: José Inácio de Abreu e Lima (1794-1869) e Alexandre José de Melo Morais (1816-1882). A leitura de plágio vinha da maneira como ambos utilizaram suas fontes; é nossa hipótese que ambos realizaram uma historiografia que se aproximava da compilação, gênero de longa duração, mas que seria descartado no século XIX enquanto possibilidade de oferecer um modelo para a escrita da história do Brasil. Palavras-chave Historiografia brasileira; Escrita da história; Historiografia do século XIX. Abstract Inspired by Manoel Luiz Salgado Guimarães' argument that the writing of history in nineteenth-century Brazil was an open field, " a debate without pre-defined winners " , this paper focuses on a form of history writing that was much criticized in that context, that can be found in two authors whose works were regarded as examples of plagiarism by the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute: José Inácio de Abreu e Lima (1794-1869) and Alexandre José de Melo Morais (1816-1882). Their works were considered to be copies of texts by other authors because of the way they used their sources and bibliography. The paper's hypothesis is that both authors produced a kind of historiography that is rather close to the genre of compilation-an old historiographical genre that was on the process of being rejected as valid model for the writing of history in nineteenth-century Brazil.
Neste artigo, procuramos refletir sobre as tensões do conceito moderno de históriaa partir de doi... more Neste artigo, procuramos refletir sobre as tensões do conceito moderno de históriaa partir de dois textos importantes enquanto avaliações da historiografia brasileira e considerações sobre a escrita da história do Brasil, a saber: Necrológio de Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen(1878), de João Capistrano de Abreu, e O pensamento histórico no Brasil nos últimos cinquenta anos(1951), de Sérgio Buarque de Holanda. Pensando os na chave do dito conceito moderno de história, isto é, como representativos de uma nova experiência do tempo, marcada pela diferença em relação ao passado, e por um novo horizonte de expectativas em relação ao futuro, que remodela a escrita da história, vemos nesses textos, marcados por tensões por vezes dicotômicas, entre estudos particulares e obras de síntese, teoria e empiria, objetividade e subjetividade, inquietações ainda relevantes para os historiadores.
Artigos de Periódicos by Pedro Afonso Cristovão dos Santos
This article assesses the meanings of the term " historiography " in Brazilian historiography fro... more This article assesses the meanings of the term " historiography " in Brazilian historiography from the late nineteenth century to circa 1950, suggesting that its use plays an essential role in the process of the disciplinarization and legitimation of history as a discipline. The global scale comparison, taking into consideration occurrences of the term in German, Spanish, and French, reveals that use of the term took place simultaneously worldwide. The term " historiography " underwent a significant change globally, having become independent from the modern concept of history, shifting away from the political and social dimensions of the writing of history in the nineteenth century and unfolding into a metacritical concept. Such a process enables historians to technically distinguish at least three semantic modulations of the term: 1. history as a living experience; 2. the writing or narration of history; and 3. the critical study of historical narratives. Based on the Brazilian experience, it is possible to think of the " historiography " category as an index of the transformations of the modern concept of history itself between the 1870s and 1940s, a period of intense modification of the experience and expectations of the writing of professional historical scholarship on a global scale. We intend here to assess the use of the term " historiografia " (historiography, in Portuguese) in the work of Brazilian historians from the late nineteenth century to circa 1950. This time period is crucial for the institutionalization and profes-sionalization of history in Brazil, for it is precisely when the transition from the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro (founded in 1838) to the university took place—the leading institutions in terms of historical production in Brazil in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In broad terms, it is clear that the crys-tallization of the use of the term " historiography " occurred side by side with the development of history as a university course, which took place in Brazil beginning in 1934, with the foundation of the University of São Paulo and subsequent establishment of the University of the Federal District (in Rio de Janeiro,
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Papers by Pedro Afonso Cristovão dos Santos
reasoning within the scope of a historical debate over the origins
of the name Brazil. In order to do so, we present and discuss how
this style of reasoning was applied in an erudite text – Questões
Americanas (American Issues) -, read in a Brazilian historical society
in 1863, and published in the review of the society in 1866. The
essay was written by a nineteenth-century Brazilian scholar,
Joaquim Caetano da Silva (1810-1873). His main hypothesis for
the origin of the word ‘Brazil’ was that its meaning derived from
words in Asian languages that designated the brazilwood, similar
to the one abundant in the region conquered by the Portuguese
in early sixteenth century. We examine how discovering the Asian
origins of ‘Brazil’ and positioning the history of his country’s
name in a context of medieval and early modern global
commercial exchange were instrumental for an attempt to
question and discredit an alleged French origin for the name, in a
period in which Brazil was countering French imperialism at the
same time as it was deeply influenced by French culture and
institutions.
Artigos de Periódicos by Pedro Afonso Cristovão dos Santos
reasoning within the scope of a historical debate over the origins
of the name Brazil. In order to do so, we present and discuss how
this style of reasoning was applied in an erudite text – Questões
Americanas (American Issues) -, read in a Brazilian historical society
in 1863, and published in the review of the society in 1866. The
essay was written by a nineteenth-century Brazilian scholar,
Joaquim Caetano da Silva (1810-1873). His main hypothesis for
the origin of the word ‘Brazil’ was that its meaning derived from
words in Asian languages that designated the brazilwood, similar
to the one abundant in the region conquered by the Portuguese
in early sixteenth century. We examine how discovering the Asian
origins of ‘Brazil’ and positioning the history of his country’s
name in a context of medieval and early modern global
commercial exchange were instrumental for an attempt to
question and discredit an alleged French origin for the name, in a
period in which Brazil was countering French imperialism at the
same time as it was deeply influenced by French culture and
institutions.