Education for democracy: a dialogue with Maria Victoria Benevides

Abstract

Interview with FEUSP Emeritus/Distinguished Professor Maria Victoria Benevides about her intellectual and political trajectory, the relations between Education and the consolidation of Democracy in Brazil and the development of Human Rights Education research area. She was one of the pioneers of these studies at University of São Paulo and also in Brazil. Considering the political moment in which this dialogue took place (2023), and her long and dense intellectual production, Prof. Maria Victoria was invited to discuss the contemporary challenges imposed for Education for Democracy and Human Rights Education research areas especially because of the expansion of the far-right wing in a national and international context. Important to emphasize that this interview was not carried out in “traditional ways”, since its production was permeated with ideas and arguments presented in papers and books published by Profa. Maria Victória at different moments in her career, and also text exchanges and face-to-face meetings that occurred during a couple of months. These meetings and discussions are related both to her participation in the Education and Democracy Seminar and to the ceremony to grant her the title of Emeritus/Distinguished Professor, both under the responsibility of the School of Education, Department of Philosophy of Education and Educational Sciences (EDF/FEUSP).