A universidade no Piauí, das faculdades isoladas à federalização: um olhar através do seu primeiro quadro docente

Abstract

This study brings results of a historical research on the University in Piauí. The problem implies the transformation of Isolated Faculties into Federal, and the occurrence of this process, involving conflicts experienced by the teachers who made up the first staff of professors at the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), in the context before and after the bureaucratic management, in the constitution of this University, and, in addition, how the speeches and practices of intellectuals and politicians, using concepts such as modernity and progress, circulated during the period of implantation of Higher Education in the State. This thesis has, as the general objective, to highlight the most relevant conflicts experienced in the constitution of the first Faculty of UFPI. As specific objectives, there are: to analyze the Piauí political context in the implantation of UFPI; highlight teachers' impressions in the period in focus; narrate the creation, and the unification of isolated faculties for the emergence of UFPI; and, to evaluate the way in which teachers from isolated colleges and Piaui society in general intervened in this process. The time frame covers the period of implementation of the Faculty of Law of Piauí, until the constitution of UFPI and its consolidation – 1930-1980. The research used different sources: minutes, acts of the rectory, resolutions; reports; master plan; certificates, UFPI constitution record available in the UFPI / CMRV archives; newspapers, photographic records, official messages from governors and documents consulted in the archives of the Public Archives of Piauí (Teresina) and IHGPI (Parnaíba). For the composition of the thesis, we used the methodology of oral history, through testimonials from people from the cities of Teresina and Parnaíba who experienced the process of creating UFPI. This study shows a contribution to the history of Education in Brazil, showing Piauí that, far from the center of power and the national economy, made progressive achievements, assuming a historical specificity from its own conjuncture. This study made it possible to recognize Piauí and its political power, in the way it produced results in the installation of an instrument of power for the State and its surroundings.