A história de (des)continuidades da Escola de Agronomia da Bahia: novos impulsos, atores e práticas científicas em meados dos século XX (1930-1950)

Abstract

With a trajectory of (dis)continuities marked by political, institutional and scope transformations, agricultural education in Bahia began a new phase in 1939, with the reorganization of the higher education course in agronomy. This process culminated in the transfer of his school to the city of Cruz das Almas in 1943. Agricultural sciences were back in Recôncavo, their first birthplace, precursor of agricultural schools in Brazil and South America. Founded in the Empire, in the year from 1877, in São Bento das Lages, and after a brief move to Salvador in the 1930s, the school arrived in the city of Cruz das Almas on the initiative of the then federal intervener of Bahia, Landulfo Alves, also a son of Recôncavo and with an agronomic background, which is why his administration prioritized projects in the areas of education and agriculture. Since then, a state center of reference for teaching, research and extension in agronomy has been established in the region, with the formation of a network articulated around the presence of state, federal and foreign institutions. In this sense, some authors (BAIARDI, 1999b; BAIARDI and VIEIRA, 2012; NACIF, 2018) claim that Bahia gained a new boost in agricultural sciences after 1940. Based on this assumption, the main objective of this thesis is to understand the context and actors that enabled the development of this area in the state in the mid-20th century (1930-1950). For the most part, previous works carried out by historians of science focus on the creation of the Bahian school, taking into account its historical pioneering spirit, as well as its various subsequent transformations suggesting a complexity that has left something to be desired for a more accurate analysis of its restructuring in this period. Seeking to fill this gap, this research aims to answer questions still little explored in historiography: (1) what impulses contributed to enhancing the area of agricultural sciences in Bahia from the 1930s onwards? (2) which actors effectively participated in this process and what actions were taken by them? (3) were these actions in tune with the development policies of their time? (4) what new scientific practices were established in agricultural sciences in Bahia after 1940? Our hypothesis assumed that it was, first of all, modernization impulses, which translated once again into a (dis)continuous trajectory of investments in agricultural sciences in Bahia. For this investigation, we used different types of sources, which included a survey of previous literature and primary documents about the institution and the actors involved in its trajectory. We conclude that, more than an investment project in science, the restructuring of Bahia's agronomy school was part of a political-economic project for state development, already with developmental biases, aiming to recover the state's tradition in teaching and in the training of technical staff in the agronomic field, but also and, above all, as a participant in national development.