Mario Rodrigues Filho : democracia racial, violência e futebol (1919-1955)

Abstract

This study analyzes the book O Negro no Foot-ball Brasileiro, written by Mario Rodrigues Filho, in 1947, and its relationship with the context in which it was produced, in order to understand its participation in the debates about soccer and racial issues in Brazil. To this end, it will propose a discussion about the trajectory of this relationship starting with Lima Barreto and his criticism of racial segregation in soccer, passing by Gilberto Freyre and his appreciation of mestizaje as a reason for the success of the sport in the country, arriving at Mario Filho and his journalistic activity throughout the 1930s and 1940s. After inserting the reader in the general background, the goal of this work is to investigate how O Negro no Foot-ball Brasileiro was presented to the public by the author and by Gilberto Freyre, who wrote the preface, and how it was received by critics through reviews at that period. After recovering the ways in which the book was assimilated in its time, the research will move to the interpretation of the text, paying attention to who Mario Filho names as his interlocutors, how he constructs the historical meaning of his narrative, as well as the argumentative strategies in his writing of History. Finally, the dissertation will focus on the way in which the author elaborates the temporal experience of the past. To this end, it will analyze how the idea of revolution realized in everyday life, over the years, is articulated, setting the pace of the narrative. It will also be investigated how the Brazilian people is represented, showing how the intense descriptive activity and attention to the sensibilities and affections of the characters make the black bodies gain visibility and become the main agents of this narrative. To conclude, the language of violence will be shown as structuring racial relations in O Negro no Foot-ball Brasileiro in order to demonstrate how the concept of racial democracy mobilized by Mario Filho did not create a mythology of a peaceful Brazil and, on the contrary, was in line with the anti-racist and democratic arch of alliances of the late 1940s, as articulated in the Quilombo newspaper, directed by Abdias Nascimento.