The routes covered by history in our country, the debates about the social role of historians and to what extent history is taught in universities must be attuned to social demands. These are some of the issues that professor Marieta de Moraes Ferreira - director of Editora FGV and FGV's Library System - raises in her new book History as a Profession: the establishment of a disciplinary field, which will be released today at FGV's Bookstore.
 

The goal is to show how to shape the history professional, recovering a trajectory that comes from the creation of the first courses in the 1930s, in Vargas' government, said Marieta. For this, the professor goes back to the design of the History Course, in the University of the Federal District (UDF) and the creation of the History and Geography Course in the National College of Philosophy of the University of Brazil (FNFi-UB).
 

The work also assesses the course of these institutes and discusses issues such as education, research, training of professionals and the challenges faced until the 1960s, when they became extinct. In 1968, the university reform carried out by the military regime transformed the University of Brazil (UB) into the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). And the College of Philosophy unfolded in several institutes, including the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences (IFCS), the professor explains.
 

Marieta also talks about the changes in the study and teaching of history over time, and takes as an example the decline of the option for a degree in undergraduate courses. Why does this happen? In FNFi the degree was a major concern related to the conception of the history field as essential to the construction of a national identity, a knowledge that contributes to a better understanding of the reality of recent periods, she questioned, and recalled the importance of thinking about the historian's profession. Today, the project which regulates the historian's profession is in progress in the House of Representatives.
 

Unpublished interviews conducted between 1994 and 2012 with students and professors of the History courses at UDF, FNFi-UB and IFCS complete the work.
 

About the launch
 

The launch of the book History as a Profession: the establishment of a disciplinary field is open to the public and takes place at 6:30 pm at FGV's Bookstore.
 

The address is Rua Jornalista Orlando Dantas, No. 44 - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

The book is available only in Portuguese.