Josef Brozek e a internacionalização da história da psicologia como área de pesquisa: um estudo biográfico (1913-2004)

Abstract

This historical research analyzes the relationships of Czech psychologist Josef Brozek (1913-2004) in the development of the History of Psychology as an autonomous research area from the mid-20th century onwards. Brozek emigrated to the United States at the beginning of World War II but turned to research and teaching of that area more prominently in the 1960s, a time when he established a professional network as well as participating in the founding of several institutions, such as the journal Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, the Division 26 of the American Psychological Association, dedicated to the History of Psychology, along with the American Archives of the History of Psychology. In his professional activities, Brozek established partnerships with other researchers in the field and devoted special attention to education, an aspect that also manifested during his time in Brazil in the 1990s. As a theoretical perspective, the study considers the articulation between the trajectories of subjects and their institutional, personal, and political relationships, as well as their connections to the socio-historical context. The thesis defended is that Brozek sought to institutionalize the History of Psychology with the aim of legitimizing it as a scientific field, according to Bourdieu’s definitions. He was also involved in the internationalization of the area, promoting a transnational shift in psychological knowledge. The author was analyzed in light of contextualism, a methodology associated with the group known as the “Cambridge School,” which provides significant theoretical and methodological contributions for studying intellectuals and their works. This approach considers texts as forms of action, analyzing them in their production context and taking into account the authors' social networks. Besides Brozek's publications, archival sources and collections from researchers who worked with this psychologist were utilized. To critically interpret the documents, the research also adopted practices of contextualized biographies and micro-historical procedures. The results obtained contribute to the debate on the agency of subjects in scientific practices, as well as on the paths taken in the consolidation of theoretical, methodological, and educational perspectives in the History of Psychology.