Development and the social sciences: international agencies in Brazilian favelas in the 1960s

Abstract

An analysis is presented of the work of three international entities in Brazilian favelas in the 1960s: Brasil-Estados Unidos Movimento, Desenvolvimento e Organização de Comunidade; Ação Comunitária do Brasil; and the United Nations. These entities conveyed the ideal of developmentalism through technical cooperation with countries deemed underdeveloped, drawing on the pure and applied social sciences through community development. Documents from the Anthony Leeds archive at Casa de Oswaldo Cruz were used to analyze these entities’ actions in the favelas and their conceptions of development. Their official documents were compared, including newspapers and programs, as well as fieldnotes and letters by social scientists engaged in fieldwork in favelas in the period.