Gilberto Freyre

Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987) was a Brazilian author, professor, and congressman. His best-known work was the 1933 sociological treatise Casa-Grande & Senzala (variously translated, but roughlyThe Great House and the Slave Quarters, as on a traditional plantation).

He was born in Recife, Brazil, and studied in Baylor University and Columbia University, where he earned his master's degree. He returned to Brazil to teach sociology, but his political involvement led to his leaving the country for the United States in 1930. There he worked as a visiting professor at Stanford University. Returning to Brazil, he wrote and published Casa-Grande & Senzala, which studies the development of Brazilian society from the influences of the Portuguese, Indians, and African slaves. The work is credited with exposing the Brazilian cultural heritage and providing a source of national pride. In 1968 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Münster.

Select Bibliography

• The Grate House and the Slave Quarters
• Order and Progress: Brazil fro Monarchy to Republic
• The Mnasions and the Shanties: The Making of Modern Brazil

References

• Joseph A. Page (1995), The Brazilians. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0201441918.