I did my postdoctoral internship under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Boaventura de Souza Santos at CES - Centre for Social Studies for 9 months, from December 2016 to 2017. At that time I was a lecturer at Mackenzie Presbyterian University - Graduate Program in Education, Arts and Cultural History.
At the age of 56, I fulfilled my dream of studying in Portugal - University of Coimbra, in a move contrary to my grandfather Luiz Coelho, who left Portugal and emigrated to Brazil. The desire to be supervised by Prof. Boaventura was not exclusive to me, many colleagues had this desire, but due to the international renown of the professor they did not risk, as I did, to send a project to pass through his sieve, I took the risk and I was approved.
A divorced woman who had been working since she was a teenager, this was her first experience as a student and researcher.
The welcome at the CES has always been the trademark of the Research Centre, from the library, the secretaries and the professors who made their time available to attend to the demands that were put to me, I attribute this characteristic to the director at the time, Prof. Boaventura.
As a post-doctoral student, she did not require intensive supervision, her autonomy as a researcher and the security of having the professor as a reader of the reports guaranteed the quality of the studies. Professor Boaventura has always been very rigorous in his guidance and open lectures. The classes were preparatory, deepening the theoretical basis and instigating debate. This posture of academic rigour and the demand in readings and commentaries made it worthwhile, at this time in my life, to be in Portugal far from his family.
The format of the classes and collective meetings, including dinners after the open classes, became the hallmark of the CES and of Professor Boaventura. The schedule of classes was awaited by all, we never knew what the proposal would be: would it be poetic? musical? experiential narratives? In short, they were extraordinary moments, profound, joyful, serious, of exchange of knowledge and culture sprinkled with joy. Only an academic with experience, confidence and willing to break paradigms of obsolete academic models could be close, open with the students in these moments. The teacher's respect for all
We, including the student mothers who brought their children and were received with love and patience, made the group leave the classes with the desire for the next meeting.
The academic life offered by the University and especially the CES was intense and required a lot of discipline in writing, seminars and cultural activities. This context described remains in the memory, in the productions and in the knowledge produced.
I was at the CES in June 2023 and the surprise was sad, because when I arrived in 2016 the place was in dispute, I mean there was no place for all the students to work because to be in the library (I refused the job they offered me) was to participate intensely in studies, research, political debate, it was to live intensely the life of the University as a student and researcher. The sadness I refer to in 2023 was to find an apathetic, empty place, with empty tables and chairs.
The mark reported above and attributed to the Director of the ESC at the time of my postdoc is no longer present. I regretted leaving the ESC in June 2023 and I would very much like other colleagues to live my experience, to have the privilege of having the supervision of Professor Boaventura, to belong to the research body of the ESC and to live with so many colleagues from all over the world who, even without being guided by him, participated intensely in the activities organised.
The experiences are individual, the processes occur differently for each one, however I feel privileged for the period in which I stayed at the University of Coimbra-CES, because the group with whom I lived, today eternal friends, also shared the same feeling, being in a place where the production of knowledge, debate, study and production was intense and with academic rigour.
The fruits of this experience are in my life, we created an Institute in the Northeast that, among other objectives, is focused on the rescue of popular knowledge and environmental issues, I carry in the guidelines of the Tatuamunha Institute the epistemology of the South and other knowledge studied so that the praxis in which we develop generates data and information for new research.
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