Abstract

MACAGNO, Lorenzo. Alfred Métraux: applied anthropology and lusotropicalism. Etnográfica [online]. 2013, vol.17, n.2, pp.217-239. ISSN 0873-6561.

This article explores a fragment of the long career of Alfred Métraux (1902-1963): his ambiguous relationship with the intellectual legacy of Gilberto Freyre. The locus of this relationship is situated in a specific period of his career, when at the beginning of the 1950s, Métraux participated in the coordination of the famous research project, promoted by UNESCO, on “race relations” in Brazil. Métraux generally defined himself as an ethnographer and “a fieldworker”. Even though he trusted in the role that the social sciences should play in the struggle against racism, in some circumstances, he expressed a certain skepticism towards the supposed efficacy of applied anthropology. On the other hand, aware of the importance of empirical research, he had a certain distrust of the “lusotropicalist” ideology, and therefore, the narratives surrounding the so-called “racial democracy”. However, his dialog with North American cultural anthropology caused him to remain alert to the possibility that “race relations” in Brazil operated in the arena of a singular and irreducible “national character”.

Keywords : Alfred Métraux; applied anthropology; lusotropicalism; Brazil.

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