Oswaldo Costa, Antropofagia, y la crítica caníbal de la modernidad colonial

Oswaldo Costa was a key member of the Brazilian modernist Antropofagia (Anthropophagy) movement of the late 1920s, yet he has been largely forgotten by critics and marginalized from national cultural history. Costa articulated —as no other member of the movement did, including his famous leader Oswald de Andrade— an Antropofagia intellectually engaged in what we call a cannibal critique of colonial modernity and Occidentalism. Costa’s Antropofagia cannibalized the historical archive, reading against the grain of a triumphant Western imperial history. Throughout his contributions to the Revista de Antropofagia, he questioned Brazil’s cultural allegiance to Europe, pointed out the existence of asynchronous temporalities within Brazil, and defied Eurocentric notions of civilization and progress that ideologically structure Brazilian nationalism in the ninetieth and twentieth centuries. He also enacted an anthropophagous re-reading of Brazilian historiography against its celebration of colonialism and proposed the necessity of a cultural decolonization. This article analyzes Costa’s principal contributions to Antropofagia and rescues his hitherto overlooked countercolonial thought from the oblivion of collective forgetting. Moreover, it examines Costa’s significant view of Brazilian modernity as a perfidious armistice with other barbarous temporalities, and of the Westernization of Brazil as a deceptive appearance that hides ever-present colonial antagonisms.Oswaldo Costa fue un miembro fundamental del movimiento modernista Antropofagia de finales de la década de 1920. Pese al olvido crítico de su obra y a su exclusión de la historia cultural brasileña, Costa articuló —como acaso ningún otro miembro del movimiento, incluyendo a su famoso líder Oswald de Andrade— una Antropofagia-otra, intelectualmente trabada en lo que denominamos una crítica caníbal de la modernidad colonial y del Occidentalismo. A diferencia de la mayoría de sus contemporáneos, Costa acometió la lectura digestiva y a contrapelo del archivo nacional y de la historia triunfal imperial y occidentalista sobre la que descansaba el imaginario nacional. En sus contribuciones a la Revista de Antropofagia, Costa cuestionó la pertenencia cultural de Brasil a Europa y a Occidente, señaló la existencia de temporalidades asincrónicas en el Brasil, y desafió las nociones eurocéntricas de civilización y progreso que informaron ideológicamente el nacionalismo brasileño de los siglos XIX y XX. Costa también adelantó una relectura antropofágica de la historiografía brasileña contra su celebración del colonialismo y propuso la necesidad de una descolonización cultural. Este artículo analiza las principales contribuciones de Costa a Antropofagia y rescata su —injustamente olvidado— pensamiento contra-colonial. Además, examina su concepción de la modernidad brasileña como un armisticio pérfido entre Occidente y otras temporalidades bárbaras y su visión de la occidentalización de Brasil como una apariencia engañosa que escondería antagonismos coloniales irresueltos

A dinâmica do enriquecimento paulista no século XIX: das origens à diversificação do capital da família Lacerda Franco

ResumoO texto visa apreender a formação e diversificação da riqueza paulista durante o século XIX. A análise recai sobre os Lacerda Franco, importante família cujos membros principiaram economicamente em atividades de cunho interno (lavoura de mantimentos, criação e comércio de animais, produção de aguardente) nas terras próximas da vila de São Paulo e, posteriormente, migraram para o Oeste Paulista, tornando-se senhores de engenho e cafeicultores. Esse processo de enriquecimento aponta a formação de sociedades agrícolas, casa comissária e exportadora, indústria, banco, diversificando as formas de riqueza dentro do complexo exportador cafeeiro da segunda metade do XIX. O fio condutor do trabalho é a apreensão da dinâmica (movimento) desse processo, materializada, através da documentação da família e de suas empresas – o que diferencia o trabalho das análises correntes apoiadas de forma unívoca em inventários –, de suas estratégias econômicas, nas diferentes atividades que os enriqueceram e nas difusas formas de alocação do capital.</p

The Aspergillus fumigatus transcription factor RglT is important for gliotoxin biosynthesis and self-protection, and virulence

Aspergillus fumigatus is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that secretes an array of immune-modulatory molecules, including secondary metabolites (SMs), which contribute to enhancing fungal fitness and growth within the mammalian host. Gliotoxin (GT) is a SM that interferes with the function and recruitment of innate immune cells, which are essential for eliminating A. fumigatus during invasive infections. We identified a C6 Zn cluster-type transcription factor (TF), subsequently named RglT, important for A. fumigatus oxidative stress resistance, GT biosynthesis and self-protection. RglT regulates the expression of several gli genes of the GT biosynthetic gene cluster, including the oxidoreductase-encoding gene gliT, by directly binding to their respective promoter regions. Subsequently, RglT was shown to be important for virulence in a chemotherapeutic murine model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). Homologues of RglT and GliT are present in eurotiomycete and sordariomycete fungi, including the non-GT-producing fungus A. nidulans, where a conservation of function was described. Phylogenetically informed model testing led to an evolutionary scenario in which the GliT-based resistance mechanism is ancestral and RglT-mediated regulation of GliT occurred subsequently. In conclusion, this work describes the function of a previously uncharacterised TF in oxidative stress resistance, GT biosynthesis and self-protection in both GT-producing and non-producing Aspergillus species