Sociology and anthropology in Florestan Fernandes

Abstract

The paper examines the ways in which sociology and anthropology are articulated
in the first years of the intellectual trajectory of Florestan Fernandes, from his interest in
understanding the problems of the Brazilian reality from an autonomous and critical
perspective of the social order. First, aspects of the context of his intellectual formation
within the framework of the cultural missions promoted by the liberal elites are reviewed, as
well as his particular conception of the differences between the two fields of study regarding
his general perspective on the relationship between science and society. Finally, the
disciplinary confluence is illustrated in three paradigmatic works of this stage: the biography
of Tiago Marques Aipobureu, the sociological analysis of social classes and his research on
the Tupinambá. In contrast to those who see in these works a forgotten anthropology, a
functionalist phase of their sociology or a stage focused on “cold” issues, academic, far from
political concerns, we seek to demonstrate in them fundamental and lasting aspects of his
critical thinking.