Felisberto Rodrigues Pereira de Carvalho (1850-1898): trajetória intelectual e redes de sociabilidade na imprensa

Abstract

This thesis aims to outline key episodes in the trajectory of Felisberto de Carvalho and to analyze the sociohistorical context that shaped his integration into the educational and cultural fields. It seeks to understand how the positions he held contributed to determining his career path. The object of study is the socio-intellectual trajectory of Felisberto de Carvalho, a teacher and educational textbook author in the latter half of the 19th century, whose involvement in intellectual circles afforded him a prominent role in the educational landscape. The central research question is: how did the episodes of his socio-intellectual trajectory and the surrounding sociohistorical context influence the positions he held and, consequently, the configuration of his path? The thesis argues that Felisberto de Carvalho, as an agent endowed with cultural and symbolic capital and a member of the Council of Instruction, built a sociability network that ensured his influence and legitimacy. Aligned with the educational demands of the period, his works catered to schools and resonated for decades after his death, remaining alive in readers’ memories until 1988. The theoretical framework relies on Pierre Bourdieu’s triangulation, articulating the concepts of field, capital, and habitus to understand Felisberto de Carvalho’s participation in the educational and cultural disputes of his time. Additionally, we draw upon Sirinelli’s definitions of intellectuals and sociability networks to further interpret his trajectory. From the general goal, three specific objectives were defined: 1) to present and describe the main episodes of Felisberto de Carvalho’s socio-intellectual path, highlighting significant moments of his integration and the positions that shaped his actions; 2) to analyze how his relationship with the press and the readers’ appropriation of his works influenced his trajectory and consolidated his presence in the cultural and intellectual spheres; and 3) to investigate his interactions with other agents in the field, such as publishers and critics, to understand his contributions and the impact of these relationships on the development of his path in the cultural field and the configuration of this space. The corresponding hypotheses are: first, that Carvalho integrated into the leading intellectual circles of the Rio de Janeiro province, enabling the consolidation of a sociability network that favored the establishment of his legitimacy and performance in the educational and cultural fields; second, that his relationship with the press, combined with a consolidated sociability network, allowed him to achieve recognition and legitimacy in 19th-century society, a process reinforced by readers’ appropriation of his works; and third, that his interactions with publishers and critics shaped the editorial circulation and legacy of his writings. Methodologically, this is documentary-based historical research grounded in the analysis and interpretation of sources related to Felisberto de Carvalho’s trajectory, sociability networks, and educational production. The set of sources is primarily based on data collected from the Hemeroteca Digital Brasileira (Brazilian Digital Periodical Archive), comprising mainly newspapers, magazines, reports, yearbooks, and almanacs. Results indicate that Felisberto de Carvalho was a teacher rooted in his time, who consolidated a sociability network capable of articulating multiple spaces and agents. He produced textbooks aimed at both teacher training and primary education literacy. We conclude that his trajectory was shaped by the interplay between institutional integration, intellectual production, and interactions with agents from the cultural and educational fields, granting him recognition and a lasting legacy in the Brazilian educational memory. Thus, this thesis broadens the understanding of the history of education in 19th-century Brazil by highlighting the figure of Felisberto de Carvalho as an example of a teacher-intellectual operating at the intersection of teaching, the press, and book production, offering insights for future research on sociability networks, editorial circulation, and the valorization of the teaching profession in the 19th century.