PRESENTATION NOTES FOR MONTEIRO LOBATO SPEECH

PRESENTATION NOTES FOR MONTEIRO LOBATO SPEECH
Dr. Rose Lee Hayden
Bom Dia!
É uma grande honra e um prazer estar aqui com vocês
Peço desculpas por meu português, que depois de 10 anos na Itália, não
permite uma apresentação mais longa.
Mas entendo o idioma perfeitamente. Fiquem a vontade para falar
comigo em português.
Paul Valery supposedly remarked: “The trouble with our times is that
the future is not what it used to be.” Monteiro Lobato would certainly
have agreed with this and then some.
How many of you have heard of Monteiro Lobato? My dear colleague
Jose Roberto in his excellent book “Os Filhos de Lobato: O Imaginario
Infantil na Ideologia do Adult” found that 70% of Brazilians with
higher education then over the age of 40 had read ML, while in 1987,
nearly 88% were familiar thanks to television series featuring Lobato’s
Sitio do Picapau Amarelo and its many visitors and principal
characters.
As the author of nearly 5,000 pages of children’s literature – 22 works
Lobato described himself as condemned to be the Anderson of Brazil.
He gave national content, purpose and scope to the genre, moved it from
the purely moralistic and didactic to the realm of fancy and
entertainment.
Lobato as an observer of Brasil from the outside (de fora).
Still relevant and popular – news series in 2012 from Rede Globo and
Brazilian producer Mixer
Current additions still being used in schools today but modified to meet
new linguistic rules and eliminate what could be offensive and politically
incorrect content TEMPOCENTRISM
READ YOUR WAY GRANNY…
Fed up with adults, Lobato focused on Brazilian children as the key to
building a powerful, effective and humane nation that would take its
place in the family of nations. Like his fellow cynic Diogenes (3rd century
A.D.), Lobato believed that “The foundation of every state is the
education of its youth.” Children were NOT miniature versions of
adults, but rather had status and intelleigence in their own right. In his
own words, “I think the human being is more interesting in childhood
than when he idiotically becomes an adult.”
Lobato’s lifelong crusade was to prepare the children of Brazil for the
future. He was an apostle of “progress”whose ideal society was but a
larger version of the Sitio Picapau Amarelo: technologically modern,
intellectually sophisticated, and existentially pleasing. Modernity would
improve the quality of existence for the wretched masses as in this case,
a rising tide lifts all boats.
Traditional social institutions, the Church, the school, the family are
rarely mentioned and when they are, the references are often sarcastic
or dowright negative. No wonder Padre Sales thought he was up against
a Martin Luther of Children’s Literature when he took on Lobato and
at least one occasion, Lobatos´s books were burned by the so-called
“righteous”.
Let me stress that with his children´s, Lobato did very well by doing
good. While he had many failures and setbacks in business, his
children’s literature, which he may have even stumbled upon by
fortunate accident, was a huge success both professionally and
financially.
One should not ignore the financial side of this venture that produced
22 volumes in roughly three phases, beginning in 1920-1921 with
Reinacoes de Narizinho, became more didactic when he returned from
the States in 1931 and at the end much more fanciful.
Lobato knew how to crank these out and market them. In fact, in his
haste, he often made errors that readers brought to his attention. His
response” “Dona Benta is an old lady and sometimes she gets
confused!”
Since time is limited, I will share only a few of the basics to illustrate
how Monteiro Lobato was ahead of his time, and perhaps always will be
when it comes to his geopolitical vision as well as teaching strategies to
make learning an adventure that never ends.
In sum, Lobato is as relevant today as ever, and would have made a fine
contributor to this encounter and its panels. While I fear he would have
agreed to some extent with Walt Rostow’s dichotomy between those
who can and those who cannot “take off,” Emilia, a doll who was in
truth Lobato’s mouthpiece and most popular of all his characters,
would have taken on Dr. Rostow as she did Hercules or anyone else
whose thinking did not square with reality. I would have loved to have
been able to listen in on this one!
But what is this reality that made Rostow and others place Brazil next
to last, just before Haiti, to declare that Brazil was really unlikely to
“take off” like Argentina which was chosen as the most likely to succeed
based on socio-economic and other indicators.
So how do things stand today? Let me share a few socio-economic and
other facts about a nation you know…and forgive me for being blunt. I
do not wish to be rude but these are the statistics.
Life expectancy is second to last amongst modern nations, lagging
behind all but Qatar. Poor diet, sanitation, lack of access to health care,
and violent crime and drug use lie behind this reality. Low birth weight,
neontal mortality are sadly common. Each year there are 225,000
needless deaths given errors in hospitals and infections and adverse
reactions to medications, amongst other factors.
Violent crime is rampant, much of it related to gangs and drug dealing,
with thousands upon thousands of murders committed each year. With
1 of every 100 people in overcrowded and inhumane prisons, 70% of
whom are non-white, there are still over 12 million crimes reported each
year.
One in four children lives in real poverty, the second-highest number of
any credibly modern nation. In fact, 1% of the population receives over
24% of all national wealth. The distribution of wealth statistically is the
same as that of Nigeria or Guyana.
The political system is dysfunctional and corruption is rather
widespread. Every day, a bridge falls down and the infrastructure is
crumbling and inadequate. The schools are often failing to achieve
results, despite higher enrollments. Powerful persons and lobbies shut
out imports and financial dealings verge on the illegal or the immoral.
The statute of limitations prohibits the proper prosecution of those who
break the law and undercuts any prospects for a truly viable democracy
based on equal justice for all.
Oh, by the way
(Oh, a propósito…),
(Esqueci de dizer… esses dados referem-se aos Estados Unidos)
the country being described here is the United States of America…My
purpose is to stress, once and for all, that we are all many countries
within one, we are all emerging, we are all facing human and
econological challenges including the growing scourge of narco and
fundamentalist terrorism.
We have all have failed to reach our potential, and in large part because
of traditional racial, caste, class, and other cultural factors, including
just plain demographics vs. an adequate resource base for food, water,
and sustainable development.
The United States does have an inexhaustable national resource…its
ignorance about other peoples and cultures. Therefore, the overall
image of Brazil is no doubt limited to non-existent amongst the general
population. Those more in tune would probably come up with Carnaval
and voluptuous mulatas dancing in the streets, with the burning down
of the Amazon, with caipirinhas and beaches overshadowed by fears of
violent crime and rampant murders. They would not know you spoke
Portuguese vs. Spanish. In fact, the U.S. is the fourth-largest Spanishspeaking country in the world.
In case you think I am exaggerating this overall ignorance, I am not and
do not take it personally. It is global. A Cal State Fullerton professor of
georgraphy gave a quiz in his class and 49% of his students could not
find Japan on a map.
HAYDEN PEACE PLAN
The good news is that there is no inherent reason why gringos would not
and do not love and respect Brazil. They are not necessarily evil, they
are ignorant.
So do something about this, like your Science without Borders Program
that will by 2015 send 100,000 Brazilians overseas to study. Currently
there are 9,000 in the States rubbing elbows with future scientists from
all over the world, including the 260,000 Chinese students enrolled in
U.S. colleges and univesities. This is a solid investment just like CAPES
which paid off with respect to industrial and agricultural development
of recent decades.
Remember, we have a lot of shared history as former colonies, slave
economies, continent countries, and nations where millions of
immigrants arrived to live their dreams and become a whole new
people.
Lobato predicted a U.S. Presidente Negro in 2028 so we beat that one,
however, YOU have a female president and I doubt I will ever see one in
the States in my lifetime…
As The Economist notes, we are getting to know each other better,
although Brazil’s presence in the United States is inadequate: it lacks a
double-taxation treaty with the U.S., should have a permanent seat on
the Security Council, its Embassy in D.C. is small, few of its firms have
offices in the city and it does not recruit expat lobbyists on its behalf so
American officials know less about Brazil than any of the BRICs.
Brazil is not fully trusted and as Ricardo Sennes of PROSPECTIVA
notes: “Brazil wants to defend its own interests…This means working
out what they are…Brazil only criticizes and never proposes…needs a
clearer record in foreign policy.” April 14, 2012.
But let’s leave this valley of tears because not all of us are ignorant and
many of us have come to know and love Brazil. Let me tell you how I
began my Brazilian adventures and came to discover and write a Ph.D.
thesis about Monteiro Lobato’s children’s literature. I will be brief but I
must be somewhat personal because affect, the heart, also directs the
mind and shapes our lives.
And Brazil has indeed changed and enriched my life. Long before I ever
even heard of Monteiro Lobato, when I was five years old, someone
gave me a Carmen Miranda doll.
Now I did not particularly like dolls BUT when I saw those colorful
skirts and fascinating costume and head dress, I knew in my gut that
wherever that doll was from, I was meant to go there. In fact, my
parents were concerned that from a very early age, all I ever did was tell
them that I wanted to go to Brazil. They could not figure it out. After
all, my parents were immigrants from Russia(Jewish) and
Germany(Catholic). For them, this Emilia-like determination to go to a
country I was too young to find on a map was, in a word, louca and
downright disturbing.
This childhood wish stayed with me throughout my school and college
days. In fact, and again long before I had ever heard of Monteiro
Lobato, at the age of 21 I was part of a team of anthropologists in the
Northeast of Brazil - sent to Camacari under the direction of the son-inlaw of Charles Wagley, Conrad Kotak.
My formal area studies did not prepare me for the Brazil I encountered
since almost all of the academic truisms did not seem to fit nor did
Brazil’s own intellectual myths about itself. I sensed that Brazil was
modernizing more quickly than it was given credit for and had, as we
say, “the right stuff” to do whatever it wished if and when it would
decide to move ahead. But I was under no illusion that it was a nonracist liberal democracy. Remember, I was living in the interior of
Bahia and in many ways it was a feudal society, the kind of place
Lobato was crusading to reform as he via his works wanted to build a
nation and a povo.
Going to Brazil shortly after the 1964 military takeover and spending
almost three months in the interior of Bahia in the sertao, in Camacari
and in Arambepe was a challenge and a great gift. It certainly made me
feel at home in Lobato's Sitio since, in some sense, I had lived this coroneis, Tia Nastacias, a Dona Benta, a Visconde, and more. I had
gotten to know Jeca Tatu rather well.
As a result of this experience, I wrote my masters' thesis -yet another
tome - about Brazilian municipal politics. So when I finally embarked
on my Monteiro Lobato venture, I had already lived in a poorer version
of the Sitio, no utopia, but for me a learning adventure without parallel.
So many of the character types in the Sitio I can recall today like it was
yesterday when I reflect on Camacari in 1964. I was 21, spoke no
Portuguese, there was no electricity or running water in the town, no
paved roads. I lived in a pension and was the only female as the other
occupants were all males employed by Petrobras and were drilling for
oil in the Reconcavo. There were no cars, some trucks, life expectancy
was 36 years of age, one of two children died before the age of two from
water-borne and other diseases, and the vast majority of the population
was illiterate.
There had not been a priest in town for 23 years BUT the Baptists
would sing away on Sunday mornings and the crentes were certainly
determined to "colonize" any souls in their path. In fact, Lobat’s
Visconde de Sabugosa was a crente who carried around his Bible. The
November 14 issue of THE ECONOMIST in its special section “Brazil
Takes Off” notes: “The most successful Brazilian multinational of all
may be the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, a Pentacoastal
outfit.
So there I was, the town "American" right after the military coup in
1964. I never felt in any danger as my Petrobras guys were my
Quindim, my landlady was a Dona Benta, there was one local Visconde,
and I was in the land of the Tia Nastacias of this world. The closest
advisor I had in an academic sense was in Salvador, quite far away then
given the roads and floods - Thales de Azevedo, a scholar and
anthropologist.
Lampiao's severed head was still on display in Salvador and it bothered
me not because of the gore, but for me it showed a lack of respect and
was used as a political totem of what happens to those who cannot or do
not serve the established interests. Remember, as a true child of the '60s,
I had lost classmates in Mississippi during the civil rights marches and
was active in such endeavors involving changing the U.S.' disgusting
apartheid practices, especially in the South.
AND I got to meet so many people - Jorge Amado was a favorite and we
had many a fine conversation at his home in Rio Vermelho. The sertao
was real to me, more than real, as well as the lovely jangadas of the local
fishermen. Even Emilia would have been impressed by my bravado in
the face of my overall ignorance.
I had studied ever so much about Brazil before going there in 1964, but
the area specialists and theories of the time did not ring true to me. The
social scientists as well as Brazilian authors were rather romantic about
racial realities and poverty, inequalities that were then the predominant
reality. It was not the land of lucious mulatas with several husbands
(alive and deceased) who also cooked like angels! Even today, in Italy,
where I have lived for ten years, Brazil is soccer, semi-nude mulata,s
sambas, caipirinhas and beaches, with a huge dose of fear thrown in
with respect to violent crime.
Living as I did and where and how I did in a then small town in the
interior of the Northeast, one of the first lessons I learned that I have
never forgotten is that illiterate people are not stupid, that poor people
are the most generous of spirit and substance.
One final story. Around 10 days into my stay in the pension (where the
rafters were open above the walls and the Petrobras guys snored like
crazy), there was a knock at the door and the one rather shabby local
policeman came and told me that the Mayor wanted to see the
American! Was I ever scared given the military coup. I was convinced
that I was going to be severely treated if not deported given I was an
"American" and anti-Americanism is as important to other peoples as
God is to theologians. And often for good reason as many times before
and since I have been distressed by the actions of my own government,
especially its Latin American policies. Although I disagreed with my
own government’s foreign policy more often than not, I was still a
GRINGA and was convinced that nothing good could come of this
unexpected and for me, fearful gathering.
And so I was marched to the town square where most of the local
population had gathered - at the time Camacari was small, around
5,000 people in the whole municipality. Most of the 300 or so people in
the town square were barefoot, toothless thanks to sucking on sugar
cane, but determined to participate in whatever had been planned.
Somehow or other, the town had gotten a generator (remember no
electricity) and a very old American flag which they marched out and
displayed, two stars short of 50 States. To my amazement,the altofalante
began blaring none other than a recording of The Star-Spangled
Banner. I was stunned, everyone else was celebrating it seemed while I
was trying to figure out what was going on.
For you see, my friends, it was the Fourth of July. I, the
"American" had completely forgotten about this, but my “povo” had
not...They wanted to honor the American on America’s Independence
Day. Battered straw hats in hand, there they all stood as my national
anthem was played to honor me and my country.
Right then and there on that spot I decided that the United States just
had to become a better nation than it was, had to earn that level of
respect and trust, had to be worthy rather than merely dominant. I also
swore that I would spend my entire life learning about other peoples
and cultures and trying to do whatever possible to educate "Americans"
about a planet they shared with others whether they liked it or not.
To conclude this vignette, I have never, ever in my life been so honored
and so humbled at the same time, let alone determined to claim my
destiny as an adopted child of Brazil, of Jeca Tatu and his companions.
I realized as never before the responsibility and expectations others had
of the United States, how we both intrigue and betray shared dreams
for ourselves and others, and how I would have to spend my lifetime
trying to learn more from and about o meu querido Brasil.
I made a pledge on that day in that dusty, hot town square on that July
4th to "give back", to make sure that I would someday be able to make
even a small, positive difference for Brazil and my country, for the povo,
and most of all for myself. For me, the academics were wrong
ranking Brazil at the bottom along with Haiti on that infamous runway
for "take off" to development. Statistics and analyses are critical, but
the human experience is too complex to compartmentalize. While it is
certainly negative to be ill and poor and without hope or opportunity,
all too many rich people are seeing shrinks...
One last aside. When I left Camacari for Salvador and the United
States, on a little train of the "caipira," my townspeople gave me an
envelope and told me NOT to open it before I got to Salvador. When I
did open it, it contained crumpled old bills, small change and
instructions to buy a record of the music of the Northeast to bring back
with me to the States. These were very poor people and I wept at their
generosity. I did indeed get that record which I still treasure today.
Maybe this explains why I learned to play the accordion. I only know
that my life has been such a blessed learning adventure given the
generosity of others and their sharing their lives with me. I will always
be a morena de Itapoã and while Brazilian spiritualists insist that in a
past incarnation I was a Brazilian nun, we shall leave out the nun part
and allow ourselves to believe that Brazil has intrigued, adopted,
instructed and delighted me. For that, I am ever grateful.
OK, back to the story. While I was teaching at Michigan State
University, I discovered Monteiro Lobato when Brazilian friends told
me about his children’s literature. I did not expect Lobato to be such a
contrarian and visionary and was pleasantly surprised. In fact, his
pedagogical insights have shaped my own teaching and writing career
very much indeed as I put into practice what he preached.
Through Lobato I understood the true challenges of teaching and
learning - how effective teaching could help to break down castes and
class, could engage and instruct, could prepare future generations,
could motivate, could create genuine interest in and compassion
for "the other" who is, in reality, a mirror of ourselves, empowered and
free. That is what Lobato sought and conveyed in his children's
literature. Like Plato in his Republic, Lobato knew that early education
had to be a sort of amusement to better liberate the natural bent of
students and determine his or her future life.
What a lucky lady! And after Lobato, who had many professional
incarnations – writer, publisher, businessman, political activist,
journalist, educator, publicist and farmer, let alone Brazil’s commercial
attache in NYC for 5 years, I went on to continue my relationship with
Brazil. I was a college instructor, administrator of international studies
programs, head of LASPAU’s Board of Directors, lobbyist for the
American Council on Education on behalf of foreign language and
internatoinal studies programs, such as the Fulbright Program, ran a
non-profit promoting American competence in world affairs, was vice
president of a successful video/tv company producing programs in 5
languages, a consultant and PR type for many clients including
American Express and Amazonas, speech writer for the Japanese
government, author and editor of foreign language courses for Hodder
Arnold in London and Hachette in Europe and continue to play the
piano on ships and in bars. Human resources types would not hire types
like Lobato and myself given our tendency to change jobs.
BUT, I never changed my career, never deviated from that day when in
Camaçari when I pledged myself to educating Americans about other
peoples and cultures so that some day our brainpower would prevail
over our firepower. There is still so much to do… By some final cosmic
irony, Lobato died on July 4, 1948… July 4 being that date that I
became a Brazilian convert and remain so to this day.
So let’s conclude with a brief look at a few examples taken from
Monteiro Lobato’s children’s literature that relate to this encounter and
panel. Lobato was born when Brazil was an Empire with slaves,
experienced the emergence of a republic, abolition of slavery, influx of
immigrants, two world wars, a Great Depression and massive internal
migration within Brazil itself. He, like ourselves, experienced all three of
mankind’s major phases: agricultural, industrial which he wanted to
greatly expand, and the very beginnings of the information age. He
expected continuous progress and would not have been surprised by the
Internet, video games, e-mails, social media, cell phones, whatever.
In fact, if you look at the world’s population, China is the largest
country, followed by India, THEN FACEBOOK, then Brazil…Think
about it and what a new Brazilian Lobato could achieve and
disseminate instantly on a global basis!!!
Let me conclude with a brief overview of the works, the characters,
types of intellectual skills valued, and effective learning and teaching
strategies.
Main characters
Types of intellectual skills valued
Effective learning and teaching strategies.
Let’s look at an example of what Lobato foresaw and taught Brazilian
children 80 years ago: He believed that the key to Brazil’s development
was dependent on its intelligent management of its natural resources, in
this case, iron and petroleum. And he was right: look at Petrobras, Vale,
and now Embraer and private steel like Gerdau and IBS.
I doubt he ever dreamed that agricultural exports would lead the world
but his cl included agricultural lessons to improve productivity. He did
not believe that Brazil had a sense of its own identity so he Brazilianized
literature, encouraged all Brazilians to be themselves and stop
mimicking Europe and aristocratic mannerisms, to exercise judgment
and be themselves. In other words, like NIKE urges, JUST DO IT.
Today 22% of Brazil’s GDP relates to imports and exports. The US
figure is 23%. Lobato would have loved this one.
Examples from the children´s literature
Not many countries are named after commodities…Lobato valued these
as the key to Brazil becoming a nation that sold not just bought
internationally. Lobato’s children discover oil two years before the
Brazilian authorities and businesses. Lobato mistrusted foreign
companies because they were holding back Brazil’s development of its
petroleum resources on purpose. Lobato died 4 years before Vargas
created Petrobras in 1952, 15 years after Lobato´s children drill an oil
well in O Poço do Visconde.
But what to do with all that oil money? Lobato basically saw oil and
iron as state monopolies. We all know Petrostates are generally the most
repressive and corrupt so it is perhaps a good thing that Brazil
discovered oil somewhat later since this gave Brazil’s democracy a
chance to distinguish it from the other BRICs, even India with respect
to strengthening its democratic credentials and practices.
Example #2 STUPID BUREAUCRATS AND CORRUPT GOVERNMENT
The Rhino…
Example #3 ARDENT BUT REALISTIC NATIONALISM
Pride in Brazil: creative anachromisms and Brazilian children proud
that Emilia and the Children brought Brazil to the rest of the world and
important figures came and visited the Sitio and were impressed, such
as Alice and Peter Pan.
CONCLUSIONS
Grateful to be a “filha” de Lobato and a “gringa abrasileirata” if such a
word exists. And If Americans do not know much about you, do
something about this. Lobato would be pleased that practical studies are
now being paid for by government and private monies and by 2015 will
have sent 100,000 Brazilian students abroad to the best universities.
20,000 Brazilian students will go to the States where 260,000 Chinese
students are now enrolled in U.S. universities! This means that your
students will be interacting with students from all over the world who
will become the future leaders in a wide variety of scientific and
technical fields of study.
Ahead of his time...
On the negative side, and in tune with Lobato´s time and thinking, The
Economist notes that it is still too difficult to do business in Brazil,
productivity is still too low as is investment, the regulatory environment
impedes progress and protectionism prevails (example of mandating oil
drilling equipment be produced in Brazil slows things down) and
foreign investor fears of excessive legal punishment (Chevron).
Corruption is rampant, and Brazil is ranked 120 of 183 countries by the
World Bank, worse than Nigeria.
70% of GDP is still in the South and infrastructure is a true impediment
to “progresso” as Lobato would define things.
Lobato was not perfect, and Emilia often makes racist remarks that
make me cringe. However, let’s not be TEMPOCENTRIC because
Lobato’s work is incredibly relevant today and we have all come a long
way with respect to racism and sexism. Lobato always hated
authoritarian governments and understood that the real challenge going
forward is not whether capitalism will prevail, but what kind of
capitalism, what balance and role for private and public sectors to play.
I am sorry I have run out of time as Lobato, despite his usual gruffness,
in his children´s books could be rather amusing. Here is but one
example: When Tia Nastacia is amazed that Alice greets her in
Portuguese. Emilia explains: “Alice has already been translated into
Portuguese!”
To conclude, Lobato’s ideal world, his Sitio lives on and Brazilian
children and adults then and now cannot help but reflect on the
difference between how things are in education and how they could be.
For this, Lobato will NEVER be obsolete.
As Pedrinho says, “We have to set the world straight” when looking at
the atrocities of human history. We still do. Lobato´s capitalism had its
moral imperatives to improve the lives of the poor. We cannot eat the
hen for dinner and have eggs for breakfast.
No one gets it right…Let me share one final and true story with you. A
Japanese specialist, Eleanor Jordan from Cornell University, was often
in Japan after a 14-hour flight and 14-hour time difference. She called
for a “wake up call” and when it came a sweet Japanese voice informed
her that “Dr. Jordan, Your time has come!”
[Dr Jordan, é chegada sua hora!]
And so has mine. It´s an honor to be here, thanks for your patient
attention. We are ALL countries of the future and always will be! In
the past Brazilians had a saying “O Brasil é o país do futuro. E sempre
será…” This is not a negative comment!! This is the greatest
compliment any outsider could apply to Brazil…vocês são o país do
futuro e sempre serão.
Lobato´s life
Doctor Rostow
Good for you!