Racionais MC’s have an honorary doctorate approved by Unicamp

The Unicamp University Council approved this Tuesday (28) the granting of the title of honorary doctor for the rap group Racionais MC’s. This is the highest distinction in higher education to honor people who have contributed, in a notable way, to the progress of science, letters and arts in the country.

According to information available on the university website, singers Mano Brown, Ice Blue, Edi Rock and KL Jay, members of Racionais, would have been recognized because they dialogue with Brazilian social thought. They “confront racism and social violence that constitute us as a society, encouraging anti-racist and supportive attitudes from blacks and non-blacks, peripheral and non-peripheral, aiming at profound social changes”, said the president of the commission that evaluated the granting of the title , Mário Medeiros.

Professor at the Department of Sociology at the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences (IFCH), Medeiros also mentioned that the Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB) awarded the same title to Mano Brown on November 1st. Still according to the university, this was the first time, in over 50 years, that black people received this honor.

However, for academics like Alexandre Sugamosto, professor of Philosophy and Master in Religious Sciences, the choice was “ideological”. “Although the Racionais have an interesting work, especially at the beginning of their career, they recorded few albums, and the most recent one almost ten years ago”, he points out, mentioning that other black people have, in fact, contributed to the history of the country, with the science, politics and the arts, and did not receive that title.

“But, if anyone questions it, they will be labeled as ‘racist’, it will give space for a class debate and they will be at risk of having their intellectual freedom curtailed”, warns the expert. “It seems like it is another step in the identity agenda that wants to impose on society that these are the fundamental contributions to Brazil”, he concluded in an interview with Gazeta do Povo.

Education professor Pedro Caldeira, from the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro, found the decision strange, remembering that the tribute is given on merit, individually, to individuals who stood out in service to society. “It reveals above all the paths they want Brazilian higher education to follow: without quality, without demands and without merit.”

The group’s songs are mandatory reading on the Unicamp entrance exam

In addition to receiving the university’s highest title, one of the albums with compositions by the group Racionais – called Sobrevivendo no Inferno – was turned into a book and is on the list of mandatory readings for the Unicamp entrance exam. The compositions deal with black culture, the fight against racism and social criticism, and it was the first time that a music album was included in the list of works in the competition.

For Sugamosto, what is happening is a result of the quality of higher education in Brazil. “Our universities have been being scrapped for a long time, and there is no interest from public authorities in reversing this situation”, he laments.

At Unicamp, the group also held an open class for students of the discipline “Special Topics in Anthropology IV: Racionais MC’s in Brazilian Social Thought”, in 2022. On that occasion, the idea of ​​granting the title of honorary doctor to the group, and this suggestion became a document formulated by three teachers with the proposal.

“The Racionais MC’s go beyond the ghetto’s speech, without abandoning it. They are not restricted to the daily chronicle, but reveal it”, point out the professors in the proposition document, citing the University has changed. “No longer exclusive, but inclusive. No longer white, but with all the colors of Brazil itself and the world. A University that is above all more generous and fair”.