Ruth Cardoso
Encyclopedia
- For the Brazilian chess player, artist and woodcutter, see Ruth Volgl CardosoRuth Volgl CardosoRuth Volgl Cardoso was a Brazilian chess Woman International Master.Her father was a Brazilian businessman who went to Germany to study engineering...
.
Ruth Vilaça Correia Leite Cardoso (September 19, 1930 – June 24, 2008) was a Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian anthropologist and a former member of the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences at the University of Sao Paulo
University of São Paulo
Universidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...
(FFLCH-USP). She was the wife of 34th President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso – also known by his initials FHC – was the 34th President of the Federative Republic of Brazil for two terms from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2002. He is an accomplished sociologist, professor and politician...
, and First Lady of her country between January 1, 1995 to January 1, 2003. She held a Ph.D in anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
from the University of Sao Paulo
University of São Paulo
Universidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...
.
As professor and researcher Cardoso taught at the Latin American College of Social Sciences (Flacso/Unesco
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
), University of Chile (Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
), Maison des Sciences de L'Homme (Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
), University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
(New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
). She was an associate member of the Center for Latin American Studies of the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. With her husband, the sociologist and former president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso, she founded and later directed the research institute Cebrap (Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento - Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning), which continues to be a leading site of social science research in Brazil.
Dr. Cardoso’s academic reputation rests primarily on a series of highly influential articles and book chapters on popular movements and political participation that she published in the 1980s and 1990s. Under Dr. Cardoso, Cebrap created Brazil’s first research group on social movements, helping to legitimate formal academic study of the “new” (non-class) social movements that had emerged in the 1970s. At the same time, she was careful to stress the limits of identity-based and popular movements for political transformation, noting the divisions among them and their frequent dependency on clientelistic relations with the state and political parties.
Unlike many academics, Dr. Cardoso also had the opportunity to put some of her theories into practice after her husband was elected president. She transformed the traditional charity approach of other first ladies with her Comunidade Solidária (Solidary Community) programs that stressed the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in state-society partnerships. In addition to executing concrete social programs, Comunidade Solidária also facilitated broad discussions of important social topics, from agrarian reform to the legal status of NGOs, publishing the results of these dialogues. Anthony Hall of the London School of Economics told the BBC after her death that she was instrumental in developing the plan to bundle various social programs together in the way that has become characteristic of the successful Bolsa Familia social program . She published a book about these experiences, Comunidade Solidaria: Fortalecendo a Sociedade, Promovendo O Desenvolvimento (Comunitas, 2002). She transformed the Comunidade Solidaria into an NGO, Comunitas, after her husband left office.
She died in São Paulo on June 24, 2008. She was discharged from the Sírio-Libanês Hospital on the June 23, 2008 after suffering strong chest pains.http://noticias.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2008/06/24/ult5772u180.jhtm
Publications
Books- Bibliografia Sobre a Juventude (with Helena Sampaio, Edusp, 1995)
- Comunidade Solidaria: Fortalecendo a Sociedade, Promovendo O Desenvolvimento (Comunitas, 2002)
Articles and miscellaneous works
- 1983: Movimentos Sociais Urbanos: Balanço Crítico. In Sociedade e Política no Brasil Pós-64, ed. B. Sorj and M.H. Tavares de Almeida. São Paulo: Brasiliense.
- 1987: Os Movimentos Sociais na América Latina. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais 2(5): 27-37.
- 1987: As Mulheres e a Democracia. Revista de Ciências Sociais 1(2): 287-304.
- 1988: Os Movimentos Populares no Contexto da Consolidação da Democracia. In A Democracia no Brasil: Dilemas e Perspectivas, ed. F.W. Reis and G. O’Donnell. São Paulo: Vértice.
- 1988: Isso É Política? Dilemas da Participação Popular entre o Moderno e o Pós-Moderno. Novos Estudos do CEBRAP 20: 74-80.
- 1990: Participação Política e Democracia. Novos Estudos CEBRAP 26: 15-24.
- 1992: Popular Movements in the Context of the Consolidation of Democracy in Brazil. In The Making of Social Movements in Latin America: Identity, Strategy, and Democracy, ed. A. Escobar and S.E. Alvarez. Boulder: Westview.
- 1997: Fortalecimento da Sociedade Civil. In 3º Setor: Desenvolvimento Social Sustentado, Evelyn Berg. Rio de Janeiro: Gife and Paz e Terra