An Escafandrista Among the Anatolians: The Writings of Primitivo Moacyr

Abstract

O ensino publico no Congresso Nacional. Breve Notícia, an inaugural book by Primitivo Moacyr, was published in 1916. Our work consisted of investigating the conditions of production of this book, following the trajectory that started with the chronicles printed in Jornal do Commercio in 1915. An employee of the Chamber of Deputies and responsible for the organization of the Parliamentary Documents, Moacyr used this position to place himself in the Brazilian press scenario and the intellectual environment from the production of a topic that was gaining prominence and which there was little or no study until then: public education present in parliamentary documentation. The analyses were developed under the framework of readings present in the history of education works in the interface with the history of print, press, book, and reading produced by international and national historiography and theoretical-methodological contributions of Sirinelli's political history (2003). Among the conditions presented here, we highlight Moacyr's work as editor of parliamentary debates and the relationship between men in the Chamber and Brazilian journalism. The sociability networks in which he was inserted ensured productive social and professional ties and the political tension surrounding the Hermes da Fonseca government fueled criticism of the reforms, in particular the Rivadavia Reform, one of the subjects covered in the book. We conclude with some motivations that would have led Moacyr to choose public education as the theme for his works.