A Brazilian Contribution to the Theory of International Relations
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UNIVERSIDADE DE BRASÍLIA INSTITUTO DE RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS DOUTORADO EM RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS ÁREA DE CONCENTRAÇÃO EM HISTÓRIA DAS RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS DO BRASIL MARIANA ALVES DA CUNHA KALIL THINKING PAST THE LATIN AMERICAN HYBRID Rationalism in Exile – A Brazilian Contribution to the Theory of International Relations BRASÍLIA 2017 MARIANA ALVES DA CUNHA KALIL THINKING PAST THE LATIN AMERICAN HYBRID Rationalism in Exile – A Brazilian Contribution to the Theory of International Relations Trabalho de Conclusão apresentado à Universidade de Brasília como exigência parcial para obtenção do título de Doutora em Relações Internacionais Orientador: Prof. Dr. José Flávio Sombra Saraiva BRASÍLIA 2017 MARIANA ALVES DA CUNHA KALIL THINKING PAST THE LATIN AMERICAN HYBRID Rationalism in Exile – A Brazilian Contribution to the Theory of International Relations Relatório final, apresentado à Universidade de Brasília como parte das exigências para a obtenção do título de Doutora em Relações Internacionais [Final Report Presented to the University of Brasília for the Obtention of the Author’s PhD title] Brasília, 21 de Novembro de 2017 [Brasília, November 21st 2017] __________________________________________________________________ Supervisor: Prof. José Flávio Sombra Saraiva, PhD Membros da Banca [Committee Members] __________________________________________________________________ Membro [Committee Member]: Prof. Emeritus Amado Luiz Cervo, PhD __________________________________________________________________ Membro [Committee Member]: Prof. Rafael Villa, PhD __________________________________________________________________ Membro [Committee Member]: Prof. Danielly Becard, PhD __________________________________________________________________ Membro [Committee Member] – Substituta [Sub]: Prof. Eiiti Sato, PhD For Marcos Lins da Cunha (in memoriam) Acknowledgements I always read books' acknowledgements. I find them most helpful when they tell you the story behind the work, since you end up learning yourself how to become a better scholar. Kissinger's 'On China' is among the best ones I've read. I could not then refrain from writing my acknowledgements in the form I'd wish to read. How have I become the person who wrote this Dissertation? My major challenge has always been to stick to a routine. When I seem to get the hang of things, there goes my attention span. I have to be extremely stimulated to actually sit down and read or write for long periods of times -I do not mean hours, but days, weeks, months, years! Sir Arthur Conan Doyle puts it quite appropriately, "my mind rebels at stagnation". A lengthy work is clearly far from my perfect suit. However, throughout the process of writing this PhD, I could rely on quite seasoned friends who were rather successful in similar endeavors. Ernest Hemingway, in his "A Moveable Feast", taught me how to keep myself defied, always finishing my workday while I still had juice. With the deepest of all understandings regarding the restless nature of my mind, he knew the hardest part, besides taming my pursuit, would be living life, going through the rest of the day until it was time to work again. He had the horses and the cafés, I had to find what made me happy without destroying my finances or my health. Mason Currey came to the rescue. With his book ‘Daily Rituals: How Artists Work’, I could take a peek into how Hobbes, Kafka, Sartre, another odd-160 scientists, writers, painters, musicians, and her, Simone de Beauvoir, lived their lives. It could only have been a woman, and this woman. Simone taught me how to live my life until the other dawn, when I'd start working at 5:30am, after 30 minutes of me time -exactly when I wrote these acknowledgements, for instance. My partner would wake up around 7am, when I'd have a proper breakfast with him, while taking a short break eating and watching the news on CNN -and quickly realizing they must stop jeopardizing the US democracy; there is holding a President accountable, then there is, yes, a witch hunt. He'd do the dishes, get his notebook and I'd put on short podcasts on his ongoing research. He'd take notes, while I kept on working on my Dissertation. He'd then retreat to his study. I do not have a study, I work from our living room. By 2pm, I would have a light lunch, usually a sandwich with salad and juice or chocolate milk. I'd then run errands, do house chores, see doctors, read or watch something for pleasure, tweet, until around 7pm, when we'd sit down, have dinner and talk about the work we had done that day. Sometimes, we'd read it to each other. I cannot thank him enough for providing me with the otherness necessary for one to have a holistic perspective and to brush up her own work. This is a lot like Simone's and Sartre's daily rituals, except they did not live together - not only did we want to live together, but also rent anywhere in Rio is way too expensive for a senior scholar to choose to live on his own in a fine neighborhood; you can pretty much infer a PhD candidate would have to live with her parents. Our versions of Feminism and Existentialism had to adapt to our times and budget. Simone used to read and discuss Sartre's work during their daily early dinner/late lunch, the other way around was not as frequent at all. Decades have passed, and being le deuxième sexe is still a challenge. The very fact that Simone herself helped Sartre with his work on a daily basis rendered me a lot more comfortable balancing my relationship with my feminist expectations regarding my role in his life, as well as the importance of guilt-free "me time" women in history rarely got -idleness is key to creativity, right? Well, yes, I bake him mini-cakes whenever I'm overwhelmed with intellectual work and find mentally healthy to use my hands, or simply when he's craving one, just as he does all my dishes -frankly, a lot because I often forget to do them-, he does the grocery shopping -though I make the list-, he keeps the house in order -I'm not as tidy as you'd expect from a lady: it's a true partnership -obviously, there are asymmetries, and they rest wherever it feels comfortable for the both of us, what changes from time to time. Simone allowed me to be ok in being on the so-called losing side of the asymmetry. My life, my rules. After dinner, we'd then take a shower and watch our favorite series. There were many throughout these years, but I can definitely tell you falling asleep to Kerry Washington, Viola Davis, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Tracee Ellis Ross, all strong women, quirky, flawless in their absolutely erratic existence, was but essential to populate my dreams with might. Lorelai's and Rory's Gilmore roles in my academic life could hardly be overplayed. They have been by my side from my undergrad years of commute from Niterói to PUC-Rio until recently when Netflix showed us how normal it nowadays is to be in your early 30s and still not on the traditional track your parents might have been, even though "everything she tackles, she conquers", even though you might have an outstanding CV and impeccable work ethics. F. Scott Fitzgerald could not be more ahistorical, in the way only literature can be, and, yes, I am aware "I shall go on shining as a brilliantly meaningless figure in a meaningless world." It's not like The Gilmore Girls hadn't warned me: in omnia paratus. My aunt Tata has taught me everything I know about the English language since I was a little girl who swore she would marry Prince William, I couldn't possibly imagine my career without her or the Spice Girls, for that matter. Ginger, Scary, Posh, Baby and Sporty forced me to understand English, no subtitles, when I searched for firsthand Spice Girls stuff online, back when you had to log out as fast as you could to unclog your phone. Tata, the certainty of marrying Prince William as early as when I was 9, and the spiced up life of #girlpower and of racial diversity are the very foundations of my foreign language skills. But far more than that, I have always been so thirsty for abstract reflections that Geri Halliwell's ‘image is just your imagination, reality is rarely revealed’ actually introduced me to post-positivism -Baumann, to me more exact. As you can see, my partner and my imaginary friends were my rocks. However, as aunt Tata has been fundamental for this Dissertation, so have been my mother and my father, who could not have helped more. Although in completely different fields, they are both scholars, and I am grateful for that. They understood my limitations, supported my reclusion, and never questioned my choice to write a theoretical PhD. My mom would send us food, which saved us time and money. In spite of her hectic schedule, she would deliver us food herself daily. My father would solve anything we'd need him to, would lend me his credit card to buy our thousands of bookcases, and, of course, the books themselves. My grandma, Therezinha, was so understanding. She never complained that her only granddaughter would rarely call her or show up even though we live only four blocks away from each other. On the contrary, whenever she could, she'd send us ‘antidepressants’ - she thusly called a care-package with the largest amount of Kopenhagen chocolates you will ever get. My 28-years-old friendship with Nathalia Mussi, in turn, provided me with far more than sorority, everyday, anytime. Her and her husband Alvaro's life choice to embrace the world, to go after the best Education they could (they are UFRJ Engineers and MIT alumni) and then to face life in the most competitive market of the world still inspires me every day.