Arlete Moysés, a professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH) at Unicamp, received the 2025 Manuel Correia de Andrade Award in recognition of her academic career and scientific contributions to geography. This is the highest award in this field in Brazil, granted by the National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Geography (Anpege). The honor was presented on Tuesday (23), during the XVI National Meeting of Graduate Studies and Research in Geography, at the Federal University of Amapá (Unifap), in Macapá. Also honored on the occasion was Júlia Adão Bernardes, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFJR). "This award is the result of extensive collaboration, which brought together nominations from 12 graduate programs from all five geographic regions of the country," highlighted Flávio Lima in his speech at the award ceremony.
Lima was one of the organizers of this year's award. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at IFCH and a collaborating professor in the Graduate Program in Geography at the same institution. He emphasized that the award canonizes the researcher's role in the construction of Brazilian social thought and also "honors a generation of geographers who, in the context of the dictatorship, took on the challenge of reflecting on the country's dilemmas, constructing critical and radical interpretations that refounded the foundations of our science in their time, without succumbing to dogmatism, but committed to social transformation and the collective."
It also recognizes the honoree's commitment to developing public policies for space and her work in the urban reform forum, within the context of redemocratization. Arlete Moysés was one of the founders of the Geography program at Unicamp's Institute of Geosciences, alongside Archimedes Perez Filho and Tereza Paes. The institution was the space that enabled the researcher to "expand the possibilities for understanding the relationship between nature and society, transcending the limits of Eurocentrism and demonstrating that science must engage in dialogue beyond the university walls," stated Lima.
Five other former students of the honored professor – Leandro Dias, Leda Buonfiglio, Edvaldo Moretti, Marcos Silvestre and Rafaela Delcol – were also present at the award ceremony.
Task of changing the world
Arlete Moysés shared the award with her fellow geographers, expressing gratitude for the nomination. "Throughout my long career, I've come to understand that debating and disagreeing on ideas is a way to deepen knowledge. I share this honor with those who fight for the right to have rights, in all spheres of life." In her speech, the intellectual reflected on the challenges and perspectives for research considering a world in crisis and difficult and complex to analyze, mentioning: exacerbated exploitation of workers without formal ties, climate change, wars, genocides, imperialism, environmental and social exploitation, technological advances, and other issues that impact daily life, as well as the modernization of universities with norms and standards that are out of touch with reality.
“I think we do what Joseph Nort [American journalist and author of the book No man is a foreigner] speaks of a reporter. To understand the high price of the pearl sold in Berlin, he travels to the South Seas where he learns the pearl's precious contents: the dangerous lives of distant fishermen, the cutting process, the labor of ship crews. In short, invisible veins of lifeblood ran within that pearl." Arlete Moysés concludes by stating that "this is what we do as geographers, when we seek to unravel the essence of the production and use of space and how much blood, sweat, and tears go into its production. We must, therefore, continue to remove the flowers that cover the shackles so that society, as a whole, can break them. Our task is crucial, and each theme, subject, scale, and place we analyze can help change the world and, in turn, change the changed world," she said.
Trajectory
Arlete Moysés Rodrigues is the youngest of six children, children of Lebanese immigrants who settled in São Paulo. She interrupted her studies to work in a textile factory and support her family. Later, she attended university, "balancing her activism [for better living and working conditions for the working class] with academic life and motherhood," said Lima. The honoree holds a bachelor's and bachelor's degree in Geography from the University of São Paulo (USP – 1971), and a master's (1981) and doctorate (1988) in Human Geography from USP. She joined the faculty at Unicamp in 1983, becoming a tenured professor in 1997. She is currently a visiting professor in the master's and doctoral programs in Sociology (IFCH) and Geography (IG). She has trained more than 60 doctors, working in Brazil and abroad. "Her guidance, always present and attentive, was and continues to be marked by scientific endeavor. Arlete doesn't just guide; she walks side by side with her mentees, sharing challenges, anxieties, and achievements," Lima emphasized, recalling that Arlete Rodrigues transformed her own home into a space for socializing and learning—dubbed Lacam—the Laboratory of Arlete Moysés' House.
