To Plant, Translate, Mine: Anísio Teixeira (1935-1947)

Abstract

We take Anísio Teixeira as a hub, from which we aim to design the configuration of networks, linking subjects and institutions. We choose the period from 1935 to 1947, scrutinizing the editorial work he carried out for Companhia Editora Nacional (CEN), based on documentation from the publisher’s collection at the Center for Memory and Historical Research of the History of UNIFESP; as well as documents about Anísio’s brief stay at UNESCO, form July 15, 1946 to February 15, 1947, existing at CPDOC-FGV and at the UNESCO Archives. The text is structured in two: in the first part, we highlight Anísio's work in CEN: in the second one, the focus shifts to his career at UNESCO. In both, it is the mobile web of networks that drives the writing, guided by an argument based on the transnational history of education. It is important to highlight that when we address the reflection to a transnational perspective, we are not neglecting the national space, nor placing Brazil in a peripheral position with respect to a supposed center that disseminates knowledge. On the contrary, we intend to reconfigure the territory based on the experiences of the subjects, the exchanges established, problematizing the confinement of physical borders in the organization of the educational field, in a time marked by the spread of authoritarian governments, war and reconstruction efforts on a global scale.