Geography in Action: The Logic of Colonization of Brazilian territory based on Epistemological Controversies about the New Location of its Capital (1947-1955)

Abstract

This article analyses the reflections of a group of geographers on the choice of the new location for Brasília and the regional planning logic. Two scientific comissions held meetings in 1947 at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and the National Geography Council (CNG) to explore the Brazilian Central Plateau and discuss the new location. French geomorphologist Francis Ruellan led the first meeting and Leo Waibel, an economic geographer born in Germany and naturalized in the United States led the other. These two leaderships represented different sides of technical-scientific controversies. Inspired by Bruno Latour’s methodology, controversies are seen as a possibility to observe clear colonization and political projects for Brazil in opposition, as well as geography’s performativity, its ability to build territories. The question that guided this research was: by which epistemological logic was Brazil colonized?

Keywords:
Brasília; epistemology; controversies; sites and situation; colonization