André Rebouças Beyond the Atlantic: The Racism and Sociability Network of a Black Nineteenth-Century Engineer

Abstract

In this article, we analyse the intellectual trajectory of André Pinto Rebouças (1838-1898) between 1870 and 1888, and how he problematised the relation between education, technology, and social reform. Rebouças argued that access to land and technical education were the mechanisms of upward mobility for black people and European immigrants. He was an engineer, teacher, businessman, abolitionist, journalist, and man of science. His family, intellectual, and professional trajectory was permeated by an extensive sociability network and racial barriers, both within and outside Brazil. Rebouças was a spokesman for the social concerns of his time, particularly those which affected not only the productive sector, but the living conditions and survival of non-white people. The relevance of this work is to add reflections to the history of science and black intellectuals.

Keywords

• history of science
• andré pinto rebouças
• black intellectual
• social reform
• brazil