Milton Santos

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia.
Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions.(December 2007)

Milton Santos (born May 3, 1926 in Brotas de Macaúbas, Bahia, Brazil, died June 24, 2001) was one of the most renowned Brazilian geographers ever, even though he had his first degree in law.

[edit] Biography

Santos' parents were teachers at elementary school and taught him at home how to read and write. When Milton turned eight years old, he had already completed the equivalent of an elementary school education. Milton's father was descended from slaves, and the boy was always motivated to study a lot. For instance, when he lived in Alcobaça -- from eight to ten years old -- he learned French and good manners. Always being taught at home, while awaiting the time to enter the "gymnasium".

The benefits of his application to the studies of the country can never be denied, but the geographer admitted one frustration: although Alcobaça is a land between the Atlantic Ocean and a river, Milton, always into his books, never learned how to swim, and never entered a soccer stadium.

Already in Salvador, he financed his classes at University by teaching Geography to the students of what would now be High School. Then, motivated for a pled from an uncle, he studied hard. He graduated in Law, but didn't get to practice his profession; he passed a public examination for secondary teacher and he went to teach Geography in Ilhéus. He began, then, a career replete with challenges, in no small way imposed by his condition of blackness.

Milton changed his world, by studying and teaching, onto an impressive path. He studied and he taught in Europe, America and Africa. He turned the painful exile that the military dictatorship imposed on him for thirteen years into benefits. Milton Santos wrote more than forty books in several languages; his work became a reference for all those who intend to understand in a critical way the current world. He was such an optimistic thinker, before anything else, that he got to distinguish the new from the innovative, concepts that he radically differentiated.

A serious and combative geographer, he didn't spare anyone of severe criticism -- politicians, intellectuals, department friends, and even the more faithful students. Gray hair appeared in his last years, but the professor would always appear in long-sleeve shirts and red tie, dressed with the same seriousness with which he worked with knowledge.