A Florestan beyond the “Brazilian singularity thesis”

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to reflect carefully on the place of Florestan Fernandes' work within the “thesis of Brazilian singularity”, formalized and scrutinized in the work of Sergio Tavolaro. In a first section, I will seek, summarizing Tavolaro's argument, to highlight the way in which he frames Florestan within that thesis. In a broad second section, after reinforcing aspects of the reading made by Tavolaro, the effort will be to present elements of Florestan's work that suggest possibilities for going beyond the cognitive grid that frames Brazilian social formation as an experience of inauthentic, deviant and singular modernity. There are three moments in Florestan's work that will be highlighted: a) a first moment of full framing within the thesis that conceives Brazil as an inauthentic and deviant singularity; b) a second moment in which the diagnosis of the singular Brazilian modernity (made in contrast to classical models) is uncoupled from the imaginary of deviation and inauthenticity; c) a third moment that tensions and goes beyond the very imaginary of Brazilian singularity.