Discussions about sustainability and the planning of Brazilian cities, as well as historical studies on slavery, especially in colonial Brazil, are the main themes addressed in the 97th issue of the journal Estudos Avançados, released this month. The online version (Portuguese only) is available at SciELO.

The articles in the dossier dedicated to urban studies have the participation of several researchers from the USP Global Cities Program, which is based at the IEA. The material includes an analysis of the urban-demographic patterns of the São Paulo State capital. According to the authors, the goal is to gain a better insight into the singularities of the city. One of the collaborating researchers of the dossier is sociologist Sérgio Adorno, who was responsible for editing a Estudos Avançados issue for the first time after replacing Alfredo Bosi.

In the article "Urban Sustainability: Conceptual Dimensions and Legal Implementation Instruments," the authors reflect on ways to implement public policies that aim the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Innovations and strategies for financing and developing the management of Brazilian cities are presented.

The dossier also addresses urban forests built by the Brazilian State and by activists, as well as technology as an ally of sustainability in solving everyday problems and city governance.

Slavery

The second dossier has been inspired by the seminar "Slavery of Body and Soul: Church, Political Power, and Atlantic-Mediterranean Slavery," which took place last April and was organized by IEA's Research Group Time, Memory, and Belonging. The articles analyze the view of Father António Vieyra and the position of the Catholic Church on slavery. Despite its redemptive discourse, the Church has accepted and integrated slavery into its doctrine and institutions, an inheritance from the Roman Empire, where it has been constituted.

"The Indians, the Amazon, and the Concepts of Slavery and Freedom," an article by Camila Loureiro Dias, seeks to show a broad approach to the notion of slavery in Brazilian history, highlighting that the trafficking of Africans was only one of the colonial forms of exploitation among others that involved the Indians of the Amazon region.

Literature, Current Affairs, and Reviews

The way how writer Carlos Drummond de Andrade has reacted to the repressive context of the Brazilian military dictatorship in some of his works is the subject of one of the essays in the "Literature" section of the new issue. According to the author, Fabio Cesar Alves, the analysis seeks to demonstrate how the poet was forced to deal with the state terrorism and political forces of the mid-1970s in a ciphered manner.

In the "Current Affairs" section, one of the discussions addresses the offenses of adolescents. According to the authors, Alysson Assunção Andrade and Jacqueline de Oliveira Moreira, offenses in the youth can be fed by a circuit of segregation and, sometimes, failed search for recognition. Another article deals with cyberbullying, its consequences for public health, and the mechanisms to prevent it.

The "Reviews" section closes the issue, featuring an analysis of the international insertion of Russia and president Vladimir Putin, and the self-fiction of writer Caio Fernando Abreu, among others.

The list below contains the names of the authors who have contributed with each one of the addressed themes:

USP Global Cities

Marcelo Batista Nery, Altay Alves Lino de Souza, and Sergio Adorno
Carlos Leite, Claudia Acosta, Tereza Herling, Ligia Barrozo, and Paulo Saldiva
Debora Sotto, Djonathan Gomes Ribeiro, Alex Kenya Abiko, Carlos Alberto Cioce Sampaio, Carlos Arturo Navas, Karin Regina de Castro Marins, Maria do Carmo Martins Sobral, Arlindo Philippi Jr., and Marcos Silveira Buckeridge
Erica Moniz Ferreira da Silva, Fabiano Bender, Márcio Luiz da Silva de Monaco, Ana Katherine Smith, Paola Silva, Marcos Silveira Buckeridge, Paula Maria Elbl, and Giuliano Maselli Locosselli
Miguel Luiz Bucalem
Cláudia Terezinha Kniess, Alexandre de Oliveira e Aguiar, Diego de Melo Conti, and Arlindo Philippi Jr.
Tatiana Tucunduva Philippi Cortese, Sonia Viggiani Coutinho, Maria da Penha Vasconcellos, and Marcos Silveira Buckeridge

Slavery of Body and Soul

Alcir Pécora
Carlos Zeron
Marina Massimi
Caio C. Boschi
Camila Loureiro Dias
Emanuele Colombo

Literature

Simone Rossinetti Rufinoni
Fabio Cesar Alves
Eliane Robert Moraes
Gilmário Guerreiro da Costa
Sandra Soares Della Fonte

Current Affairs

Ana Lydia Sawaya, Anna Maria Peliano, Maria Paula de Albuquerque, and Semíramis Martins Álvares Domene
Alysson Assunção Andrade and Jacqueline de Oliveira Moreira
Jorge Shiguemitsu Fujita and Vanessa Ruffa

Reviews

Lenina Pomeranz
Erwin Torralbo Gimenez
Cristiane Rodrigues de Souza
Eduardo Veras
Caio Moraes Reis