AS RAÍZES HISTÓRICAS DO ATRASO ECONÔMICO E POLÍTICO NO BRASIL: A INTERPRETAÇÃO DE JOSUÉ DE CASTRO

Abstract

Amongst the several works by Josué de Castro concerning the underdevelopment and one of its main consequences - the hunger - the books "Geografia da fome", "O livro negro da fome", and "Sete palmos da terra e um caixão", will be emphasized in this article. The asic nuances of his proposal of interpreting Brazil, considering the poverty conditions, the miserability and hunger which prevailed in the 50s and 60s, will also be emphasized. Within the scope of a possible perspective of social change, he assumed that without kwowing the historical causes of the social, political and regional inequalities, there was no way of explaining the problems that affected the country. His anticolonialist and anti-imperialist reflection led him to a fruitful  debate with some social scientists who tried to consolidate the growth and income distribution.