Unicamp's position among Latin American universities in the ranking of Times Higher Education (THE) was celebrated by the internal community as recognition of the collective efforts to build a reference university on the continent and in the world. After the celebration and, in addition to the achievements obtained, the task remains to think about the new challenges and Unicamp's commitments to Latin America.
Unicamp has received and receives many researchers and students from neighboring countries. Internationalization occurs primarily with transit and cooperation between universities that face similar challenges and located in countries with similar cultural, social and political experiences. In 1891, José Martí wrote the essay Our America in which he addressed the need for elites and universities to know the people that make up their reality. Creativity and questions should arise from the real problems of the population and societies, “without blindfolds or disguises; because he who, by will or forgetfulness, leaves aside a part of the truth, ultimately falls victim to the truth he lacked”, according to Martí.
The challenge of building a university culture in Latin America was taken up by the Córdoba students' manifesto in 1918. The Córdoba University Reform bequeathed to us the defense of university autonomy, the change in the teaching and teaching process and the democratization of the university , both in its management and in guaranteeing the permanence of students from all social groups.
Those who dedicated themselves to thinking about the place of universities in Latin America were not few. Young people entering higher education represent groups that have the potential for change. The Argentine José Ingenieros (1877-1925) considered that youth was the protagonist of cultural transformations for the construction of an identity that was yet to be constructed on the ethical, cultural, social, economic and philosophical planes. For him, the university should follow this debate, distancing itself from a European model and acquiring its own characteristics.
The intertwining between Unicamp and Latin America
Perhaps many members of Unicamp's current staff are unaware of the fundamental importance of Latin American professors and researchers who came to Unicamp in its early years. In the different areas of knowledge there are contributions from neighbors who, often fleeing the political persecution of local dictatorships, found, paradoxically, space at Unicamp in the times of Zeferino Vaz.
Two relevant meetings for the Latin American intellectual scene took place at Unicamp. In January 1980 and July 1983, some of the continent's most important thinkers, such as the Uruguayan Ángel Rama and the Peruvian Antonio Cornejo Polar, at the invitation of Antonio Candido, met at the IEL to discuss Latin American literature. Among Rama's greatest works, in addition to his work as a literary critic, the successful project of Ayacucho Library, which brought together the main works of writers, essayists and thinkers from Latin America. Argentine Beatriz Sarlo, editor of the magazine Point of view, participated in the 1980 event and published interviews with Rama and Candido, from the Campinas event, exploring points of view on “unity and conflict”, cultural dependence and other issues that would express “an important debate convened in Brazil” in the field of letters and humanities.
In more recent years, in a fragmented way, exchanges in other areas have grown and there are many teachers, researchers and students who are part of research groups in partnership with universities and research centers abroad, in addition to student and teacher mobility programs. Internationalization, due to cultural, economic and geographic aspects, occurs, above all, among Latin Americans.
Common challenges of Latin American societies
Latin America entered the 1910th century full of expectations for the future. In the context of the centenary of independence, there was an effervescence of episodes and issues that exposed the need to build paths and promote the emancipation of countries. The Mexican Revolution (1917-1918), the Córdoba Reform (1922) and the Modern Art Week (XNUMX), in Brazil, are examples of the displacements experienced at that time. A century later, many of the challenges remain present and universities play a central role in identifying issues and proposing solutions.
Latin American integration, as a political and cultural issue, should be assumed as a central task of universities. The circulation of knowledge and cultural, scientific and technological cooperation are fundamental to promoting the continent's autonomy and aiming for the emancipation of countries, societies and individuals.
Unicamp should build a multidisciplinary Latin American Studies Center recognizing some premises such as the defense of democracy and human rights, respect for epistemological and cultural diversities, the role of science and technology as inducers of the development of countries, the issue of sustainability and biodiversity, the fight against illiteracy and the improvement of basic education, public health issues and the fight against diseases, urban planning and the challenges of smart and sustainable cities, in addition to artistic and audiovisual production.
Regional integration processes are inevitable and Latin American universities should consolidate their links and share experiences, especially in moments of crisis like the one we are experiencing in Latin America. Priority actions in the areas of energy, biofuels, urban planning, education, language teaching, arts and history are some of the many examples of cooperation and themes that a Study Center could prioritize and with references beyond the internal community. Latin American integration, more than between states, should also be between societies.
Many individual experiences are lost when we are not able to think or build a network that brings together institutional and private efforts in the production of knowledge. Unicamp, with the boldness that is characteristic of it, cannot accommodate itself in the face of the results obtained, but proposes to continue being a reference among Latin American universities and attracting people and projects that impose new challenges and stimulate academic production , cultural and scientific.
Universities are capable of imagining the future, with the youth and experiences they bring together. Thinking about the future and proposing solutions, in accordance with our experiences and the reality of Latin Americans, are tasks that we have to move towards.
In this sense, I return to the words of José Martí, on 30/01/1891, to inspire us in this immense challenge.
Knowing is solving. Knowing the country and governing it according to knowledge is the only way to free it from tyrannies. The European university must give way to the American university. The history of America, from the Incas to now, must be taught in detail, even if the history of the archons of Greece is not taught. Our Greece is preferable to the Greece that is not ours. We need it more (...). Let the world be grafted onto our republics; but the trunk will have to be that of our republics. And the defeated pedant be silent; for there is no country in which man can be more proud than in our painful American republics.
