Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Sao Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP) is launching “O Que é Meu” (“What Is Mine”), a book by one of the school’s professors, José Henrique Bortoluci. The public book launch will take place on May 17, at 6 pm, in the FGV 9 de Julho Noble Room. There will be a discussion with the author and statements will be made by the coordinators of the FGV courses on which Bortoluci is a professor, as well as by some of his former students.

In his debut book, published by Fósforo Editora, Bortoluci uses two narratives to recount the history of Brazil over the past 50 years. First, based on long interviews, the diaries kept by his mother and other documents, he shares memories of her childhood spent in Jaú, Sao Paulo State, and discusses her forebears from Italy and Spain, who arrived in Brazil to work in the fields. In this way, Bortoluci sheds light on the evolution of Brazil from the perspective of the working class.

Second, he examines the life experience of his father, José Bortoluci, who studied up to the fourth grade. At first, he devoted himself entirely to working on the farm, and later he trained as a mechanic and worked as a truck driver as of the age of 22. This job allowed his father to travel all over Brazil and actively witness the construction of projects such as the Trans-Amazonian Highway, Guarulhos Airport and other landmark initiatives in line with the dictatorship’s “Great Brazil” program.

Based on his education as a sociologist, including a doctorate earned abroad, José Henrique Bortoluci dialogues with his father’s speech, exposing his routines, expressed in concrete words such as freight, quagmires, loads, asphalt and land, combined with academic terms such as class struggle, surplus value, capitalism, development and authoritarianism. He describes all this in a serene, extremely informative way, as a good observer, without any moral judgment.

Venue:
FGV 9 de Julho Noble Room
432 Rua Itapeva, 4^th floor
Bela Vista, Sao Paulo

To take part, please sign up here.