Looking from afar and thinking up close:the production of The Masters and the slaves and Roots of Brazil in foreign lands

Abstract

The sociologist and anthropologist Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987), author of The Masters and the slaves (1933), and historian Sérgio Buarque de Holanda (1902-1982), author of Roots of Brazil (1936), are considered some of the main interpreters of Brazilian society, having produced works that continue to impact the understanding of Brazil, according to some researchers, these were the works that ‘invented Brazil’. In this essay, I seek to analyze the impact of the experiences these authors had abroad during the production process of their best-known works; in the case of Gilberto Freyre, I highlight his academic training in the United States, and the case of Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, his training free in Germany. I believe that due to different academic and cultural experiences abroad, Gilberto Freyre and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda developed different interpretations of Brazil. Based on the analysis of their biographies and their best-known works, I seek to highlight how some of the main interpretations of Brazilian society were only possible due to the ‘intellectual diaspora’ in which these authors participated, trying to understand the influences that influenced their work.