Ribeiro, Darcy (1922–1997)

Darcy Ribeiro (b. 26 November 1922; d. 17 February 1997), Brazilian anthropologist. Born in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Ribeiro did fieldwork among Indians in Amazonas and central Brazil. He also studied Indian acculturation with the support of UNESCO and organized the Indian Museum in Rio de Janeiro (1953). Interested in public education, Ribeiro became the first rector of the Universidade de Brasília (1961–1962) and served as minister of education and culture (1962–1963) during João Goulart's presidency. When the military seized power in 1964, Ribeiro, who was a member of the Executive Office of President Goulart, went into exile in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he taught anthropology at the Universidad de la República Oriental del Uruguay. He returned to Brazil in 1974 and resumed his political activity. From 1983 to 1987 he was governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro. His works on cultural anthropology treat the differences between American societies and the effects of civilization on Indian populations. During his last year of his life he dedicated himself to creating a distance education program for adults, Escola Normal Superior, in order to educate more teachers.

Among the most notable are Religião e mitologia Kadiwéu (1950), Línguas e culturas indígenas no Brasil (1957), A política indigenista brasileira (1962), O processo civilizatório (1968), As Américas e a civilização (1970), Os índios e a civilização (1970), Os brasileiros (1972), O dilema da América latina (1978), O povo brasileiro (1995). He wrote also several novels, Maíra (1977), O mulo (1981), and Migo (1988).

See alsoAnthropology; Education: Overview; Education: Nonformal Education.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Egon Shaden, Aculturação indígena (1969).

John W. F. Dulles, Unrest in Brazil: Political-Military Crisis 1955–1964 (1970).

Additional Bibliography

Bodley, John. Tribal Peoples and Development Issues. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1988.

Bomeny, Helena. Darcy Ribeiro: Sociologia de um indisciplinado. Belo Horizonte, Brazil: Editora UFMG, 2001.

                      Eliana Maria Rea Goldschmidt