Freyre, Gilberto de Mello (1900–1987)

Brazilian writer and social anthropologist. He wrote a study of the development of Brazilian civilization in Casa-Grande e Senzala (1933), an outstanding contribution to the sociology of Latin America. It was continued in Sobrados e Mucambos (1936), translated as The Mansions and the Shanties (1963).

He has also written Nordeste/Northeast (1937), Um Engenheiro Frances no Brazil/A French Engineer in Brazil (1940), Regiǎo e Tradiçao/Region and Tradition (1941), Brazil, an Interpretation (1945), Sociologia (1945), Ordem e Progresso/Order and Progress (1959), and a novel, Dona Sinhá e Filho Padre/Mother and Son (1964).

Freyre was born at Recife, Pernambuco, and educated privately and at the Gilreath American College, Recife. He was professor of sociology at the State Normal School of Pernambuco and at the University of Rio de Janeiro 1935–38, and was visiting professor at several universities in the USA. He served in the Brazilian parliament 1946–50 and was Brazilian delegate to the UN General Assembly in 1949.