History as Civic Action. An Interview with James Naylor Green

Abstract

In this interview, James Green, a prominent Brazilianist, tells us about his interest in Brazilian history, his life as a civic and political activist against authoritarianism in Brazil and for gay and lesbian rights, and his academic work and career. The purpose of the interview, besides bringing his work to a wider audience of European historians and social scientists, is to reflect on the relationship between academic work and political and ideological activism, and to discuss the problems of subjectivism and the use of individual testimonies in the making of contemporary history. We invited James Green to reflect on those matters, so he could share with us the views of someone who, because of the nature of his work, could not help but deal permanently with such questions.

Keywords

• Brazil
• authoritarianism
• gay and lesbian rights
• civic and political activism
• subjectivism