A French-like trap: men without profession

Abstract

This article examines the work of the French missions for the inauguration of the School of Philosophy, Linguistics and Human Sciences of the University of São Paulo (FFCL-USP) – in particular, the role played by Fernand Braudel. Among the tasks of his mission, one finds the selection of students to continue the activities at a later stage to the institutional structuring undertaken by the French. It is possible, through a careful exam of the selected students, to be struck by the missionary’s surprising attention to potential local conflicts, concentrated as they were on the new institutional construct. Moreover, it is possible to investigate developments of the principles of selection, which signalize to the exchange between the newly-founded FFLC-USP and the traditional Largo do São Francisco School of Law (FD). To this end, we present the social profile and the motivations related to the work and historiographical practices of teaching and research of the selected students, in particular, Eduardo D’Oliveira França.