Alceu de Souza Novaes: um intelectual em prol da educação do Estado de Minas Gerais (1910-1927)

Abstract

This research is linked to the research line Fundamentals and Educational Practices of the Postgraduate Program in Education at the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro. During the João Pinheiro reform (1906), Alceu de Souza Novaes began his professional career as a technical education inspector, also working as a journalist, speaker, among other public and private roles, always having the development of education as his motto. The research that gave shape to the work covered the state of Minas Gerais spatially and, temporally, the period between 1910 and 1927, a period in which Alceu held the position of education inspector, working in several cities with the objective of remodeling, improving, criticizing and shaping pedagogical practices in schools from larger cities to the most remote corners of the state of Minas Gerais, publishing articles in the Revista do Ensino do estado de Minas Gerais, while overseeing the Mello Vianna (1925) and Francisco Campos (1927) Reforms. The present study aims to understand the role of Alceu de Souza Novaes in the educational context of Minas Gerais during the period from 1910 to 1927. The specific objectives are: I) To identify whether Alceu de Souza Novaes fit into the category of intellectual producer or mediator; II) To describe the historical, social, cultural and economic context in which Alceu de Souza Novaes lived; III) to analyze the biographical profile of the intellectual and VI) to identify the educational contributions and innovations proposed by Alceu de Souza Novaes to education in Minas Gerais, through the relationships between his professional productions and the educational legislation in force at the time. This research was developed based on a bibliographical review and documentary analysis. The following documents were used: inspection reports, articles from the Revista do Ensino, articles from the Jornal Lavoura e Comércio, as well as educational legislation. The biography written by Inácio Ferreira (1982) was also used, in addition to dissertations and theses that cover his professional trajectory, collected and selected using the proposed methodology. Subsequently, these documents were analyzed considering the theoretical references of historians Sirinelli (1998, 2003, 2006, 2009) regarding the categories of analysis of generation, trajectory and sociability network; Gomes and Hansen (2016), clarify whether he was an intellectual of the mediator or producer type. The importance of this work lies in highlighting this trajectory and, in doing so, contributing not only to the History of Education in Minas Gerais but also to the History of Brazil. As a result, Novaes presented himself as an intellectual producer and mediator, a member of countless networks of sociability, which provided him with engagement. Considering the numerous positions he held with excellence and his vast and varied production, the result of his tireless study of national and international pedagogical works, it is clear that his entire trajectory was translated into the search for ways to collaborate for the improvement and excellence of education in Minas Gerais.