Gilberto de Mello Freyre Foundation
A nature reserve that tells old stories
Gilberto Freyre was born on 15 March 1900 in Recife and is considered one of the most important sociologists and anthropologists of the 20th century. In 1948, he was one of the ‘Eight Men of Paris’. Freyre concentrated particularly on anthropology and racial biology. As a Nobel Prize contender, he worked on international conflict resolution on behalf of UNESCO, among other things. For the UN, he dealt with racial problems. Freyre helped draft the Brazilian constitution and prepared an expert report for Germany on children born during the Nazi occupation.
One of the greatest Brazilian thinkers
Gilberto Freyre was one of the first Brazilians to receive an education at Columbia University in the United States. He obtained his master's and doctorate in political, legal and social sciences
in New York. His dissertation ‘Social Life in Brazil’ served as the basis for his later work ‘Casa Grande & Senzala’ (The Masters and the Slaves).
Gilberto Freyre championed national culture and showed that racial mixing is Brazil's strength and promotes an authentic tradition. During the 1962 carnival, the Mangueira samba school in Rio de
Janeiro made his work ‘Casa Grande & Senzala’ the subject of its performance. Freyre influenced nationalist propaganda. Brazil became a model for racial harmony in diplomatic
initiatives.
Many ideas from ‘Casa Grande & Senzala’ and its sequels ‘Sobrados e Mucambos’ (The mansions and the shantie, 1936) and ‘Ordem e Progresso’ (Order and Progress, 1959) influenced the next
generation of social scientists in Brazil. These topics emphasised the central role of the patriarchal family as a social institution. They examined the historical development of Brazil as a
slave society and the sugar cane mills as formative institutions. They also emphasised the importance of customs, especially with regard to the home, food and healing.
The Masters and the Slaves - Brazil against the Theories of the World
In the 1930s, the prevailing view was that European whites were superior. It was believed that racial mixing would weaken the population and affect the purity of the people. This served to
support Hitler's Aryan discourse.
‘The Masters and the Slaves’, the masterpiece by Gilberto Freyre, changed the course of sociological theories with its irreverent, poetic and anti-academic language. Freyre defended racial unions
as a great Brazilian triumph. They did not weaken themselves by mixing. Instead, they created a completely authentic culture and unique society.
In fact, miscegenation was a great advantage. The Portuguese invaders were mostly men without families. These navigators represented the dominant culture, but had no sense of racial
superiority.
The greatest contribution to colonisation, however, was made by the Africans. They added several technologies: land, livestock, gold, cooking, language, metallurgy. In contrast to Portuguese
introversion, they were an extroverted culture that increased contact between different peoples and facilitated racial mixing.
The third group, the Indians, also played a major role in the formation of Brazilian culture. The development of a unified vernacular, eating habits such as Cassava
without the wheat and hygiene measures common in Europe, which included daily baths, which was extremely unusual in Europe at that time.
Brazil was formed as a people, nation and culture by these three colonial societies. This creative space of fusion emerged in the sugar cane mills, the ‘engenhos’. There, several problems of Portuguese colonisation were solved:
- the hunger that the first inhabitants were exposed to
- the lack of use of the abundant land
- the cultural distances between the three race
A selection of awards and titles for his achievements
- Title ‘Sir’, British Empire awarded in 1971 by Queen Elizabeth II.
- Anisfield Wolf Prize, USA 1956 for the best literary-scientific work.
- Aspen Award, USA 1967 for humanistic achievements in Recife, Brazil.
- Prize International La Madonnina, Italy 1969.
- Literary Excellence Award, 1961 of the Academia Paulistana de Letras.
- Jabuti Prize, Brazil 1973 for literature (essays).
- Machado de Assis Prize, 1962 Brazilian Academy of Literature.
- Medals, from Portugal, Spain, France and the states of São Paulo and Pernambuco.
- Immortalised at the Academy of Letters of Pernambuco, Brazil.
- Honorary doctorates from the universities of Oxford, Coimbra, Paris, Sussex and Münster, from the Federal University of Pernambuco and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
- On 27 December 2001, the name of the international airport in Recife was changed by law to Recife/Guararapes International Airport–Gilberto Freyre.
Gilberto Freyre Foundation
Gilberto Freyre and his family decided to establish a foundation in the Santo Antonio de Apipucos country house in Recife. This is intended to bring together the family's cultural heritage, assets and collections. In addition, the house museum is designed to help better understand the continuity of Gilberto Freyre's studies and ideas.
The country house where the Freyre family lived is located in a 10,000-square-metre nature reserve. It reminds visitors of the old, spacious backyards of times gone by. The site's floristic
complex is home to over a hundred species of native and exotic plants, offering fascinating botanical diversity. More than thirty species of birds find shelter and food here, adding to the site's
biological significance.
I would be happy to accompany you to this beautiful tropical paradise. It is reminiscent of days gone by in the Atlantic rainforest in all its diverse beauty. At the same time, we will visit the house where Gilberto Freyre lived. Here we can deepen our knowledge of the life and work of Gilberto and broaden our understanding of Brazilian cultural identities.
Gilberto Freyre - The Thinker of Brazil
Gilberto Freyre was nominated for the Nobel Prize, received the title Sir and numerous other honours.
Gilberto Freyre and his son Fernando on the road at Carnival with the clique ‘A Turma da Jaqueira’ in Recife.
For Freyre's work "The Masters and the Slaves" he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The Gilberto Freyre Foundation’s natural park evokes memories of the large backyards of the past.