The University and postmodernity: The Brazilian panorama

Journal/Book: Dados Rev Cienc Soc. 1999; 42: Rua da Matriz 82, 22260 Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Iuperj. 159-188.

Abstract: The article examines the panorama currently facing the Brazilian university. In the postmodern era, the process that has transformed knowledge and nature into wealth has brought with it the hypertrophy of mass culture and the spread of telecommunications and computer technology. These latter phenomena act as vectors that have shifted the university away from the central position it held in the nineteenth century. The atrophy of the State and hypertrophy of audiovisual language have reduced the institution's significance and visibility In Brazil, these vectors have all been reinforced by a choice to enter the globalization process in passive fashion. This explicit relinquishing of an affirmation of the nation has reduced the university's space. The article ends by examining current issues in institutional definition, where any eventual format will be vital to the future of the Brazilian university.

Note: Article Lessa C, Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Ctr Ciencias Juridicas & Econ, Rio De Janeiro, BRAZIL

Keyword(s): university; postmodernity; autonomy

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