Resumo

RUDAS, Nicolás. Confrontation and "self-destruction" of a sociology project in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia: the fall of the "founding fathers". Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2019, vol.42, n.2, pp.67-90. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v42n2.76759.

The article analyzes the departure of "founding fathers" Camilo Torres Restrepo and Orlando Fals Borda from institutional sociology in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Although they formally resigned, it is more adequate to interpret their departure as an expulsion brought about by the pressure of opposing social forces that represented other "sociology projects". Therefore, it argues that their resignation was not the result of personal misunderstandings, but rather of deep social conflicts. From the theoretical framework of cultural sociology, our starting point is the premise that all social communities, including academic ones, guide their collective endeavors according to highly structured normative conceptions. Therefore, a "sociology project" is made up of the set of definitions idealized on paper regarding the role sociologists should play in society and their relation to the powers around them.

On the basis of testimonial and documentary sources, the article carries out a her-meneutical reconstruction of three "sociology projects" that emerged in the 1960s in Colombia. Firstly, the project of the "founding fathers" is a civil project aimed at articulation with the reformist demands of the democratic social movement, which did not define itself a priori as pro-State or anti-State. In its first years, the work of Fals Borda and Torres Restrepo faced a double challenge posed, on one hand, by conservative sectors outside the University, which defended a traditional and organic view of society and strove to construct a patrimonialist sociology project that was mainly pro-State. On the other hand, the revolutionary sectors defended a utopian society achievable only through an abrupt, non-reformist rupture with the prevailing order, and worked toward implementing a revolutionary sociology project that would sever relations with the State. While the first confrontation led to the expulsion of Torres Restrepo in 1962, the second led to the expulsion of Fals Borda in 1965, and gradually of "Falsism" until 1970, thus dismantling the foundational sociology project. This last process can be defined as one of "self-destruction", to put it in Fals Borda's terms, since it was promoted from within the Department of Sociology of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Descriptors: culture, social sciences, teaching and education, university.

Palavras-chave : democracy; civil society; public education; revolutionary movement; sociology; student upheavals.

        · resumo em Português | Espanhol     · texto em Espanhol     · Espanhol ( pdf )