The search for intellectual non-sectarianism in the journal Encontros com a Civilização Brasileira (1978-1982)

Abstract

This article proposes to analyze the manifestations about intellectuality in and of Encontros com a Civilização Brasileira (1978-1982). From the mobilization of different expressions to promote and criticize the engagement associated with the national-popular, the magazine intended to disassociate itself from intellectual sectarianism, considering that the editors, Ênio Silveira and Moacyr Félix, were critical of interference in intellectual productions since the 1950s. For this purpose, we listed two positions that can be identified: the first associated with the critique of intellectual avant-garde, which emerged in the 1970s and 1980s; and the second, which defended positions from the 1960s, in which the intellectual acted as the vanguard of society. The tension between the two views and the attempt to bring them together led to a confused and eclectic editorial line in the magazine.