Intelectuais em tempos de exceção: um olhar sobre Barbosa Lima Sobrinho durante a ditadura militar brasileira

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the trajectory of the journalist, politician and academic from Pernambuco, Barbosa Lima Sobrinho, with special interest in his performance as one of the most important mediator intellectuals in the country during a funding event of Brazilian identity and political life in 20th century: the dictatorship established for 21 years after the civil-military coup in 1964. Therefore the research proposes the identification of Sobrinho’s four main speech places in the period: as president of Brazilian Press Association (ABI); as a member of Human Person’s Rights Council; as Brazil’s Vice Presidential candidate with running mate Ulysses Guimarães; and, specially, as a writer of weekly opinion articles in Jornal do Brasil, following the political landscape for 73 of his 103 years of life. Through the analysis of Sobrinho’s textual production in the newspaper and the dialogical approach with his unpublished correspondence collection it was possible to identify the major thought patterns of such a complex and interesting character. Although the journalist has strongly contributed for the narrative production about the Brazilian military dictatorship, Barbosa Lima Sobrinho’s liberal democratic resistance is still poorly studied by the historiography since it is mostly dominated by researches dedicated to the different types of opposition to the military regime traditionally identified with the political field of the leftists. This study has the purpose to enlight the presence of Barbosa Lima Sobrinho in Brazilian history and to reflect on the contemporary importance of his thought – 2019 is the 55th anniversary of the civil-military coup that transformed the country’s face.