The international circulation of Celso Furtado: new proposals for thinking about underdevelopment, 1970s to 1990s

Abstract

The objective of this research is to highlight the international importance of Celso Furtado's work, the modernity of his thought and the actuality of the issues he addressed, with special attention to his reflections from the 1970s to the 1990s. We consider that the 1970s constitute a turning point in the intellectual trajectory of Celso Furtado: the evolution of capitalism in the second half of the twentieth century, with the emergence of transnational corporations and the resulting loss of autonomy in decision making at the national level, as well as the perception of the limits to the universalization of development conducted according to the Western model, lead the author to seek new ways of thinking about the problems of underdevelopment and the possibilities of its overcoming. In order to explore this period of intense intellectual production of Celso Furtado, his participation in the discussions held at the United Nations (UNO and UNESCO), from the end of the 1970s, will be studied with particular interest. These discussions offer a prime and unexplored opportunity to understand the interactions of his thought with the broader debate in progress; likewise, will be investigated his interventions in international discussions and seminars. In this period of intense international circulation, Celso Furtado contributes to scientific debate with innovative issues, such as cultural creativity in the development process, and deepens his critical analysis of technological and cultural dependence. The theoretical contributions of Celso Furtado from the 1970s to the 1990s, moment of intense transformations in the world economy, offer important elements for reflection on the current possibilities of peripheral development. (AU)