March 16, 1995
Professor Luiz Barbosa is in the business of ideas. In his sociology classes, he uses these ideas to help SF State students learn new ways of thinking about the world.
"I tend to see reality as interconnected. I try to make students see the links," rather than teaching independent, isolated concepts, he said.
Adriss Abedi, sociology major, said, "He involves the student. He uses lots of examples." Abedi said Barbosa's perspective brings the issues home for him. "It's more clear -- he uses the Indians in Brazil as an example, teaching us about modern society and how it's effecting them."
Barbosa tells the story of rock singer Sting's brief affair with the Kayapos of Brazil to show two sides of an argument.
Sting raised $1.2 million to help the Kayapos establish a reservation in Brazil's tropical rain forest. When the Kayapos sold some of their trees and bought cars and televisions, Sting accused them of using him.
Barbosa said Sting was well-intentioned, but romanticized the situation of the Kayapos and expected them to protect the rain forest. "From their perspective, the Kayapos realize they have to adapt or perish. They said Sting's idea that Indians should stay as they are is racism," he said.
Much of the world's remaining forests, which scientists say are necessary to earth's survival, are within Third World countries, where conflicts emerge from efforts to develop.
Barbosa said there is a need to question the concept of development and define it as "people's ability to live a decent life, to support their families, to be productive," rather than by economic growth rates, as in the past.
Barbosa, who will be 37 tomorrow, has taught at SF State since 1981. He is from Brazil -- but his cat, Ozone of the Rain Forest, "is an American cat, a Jersey cat."
Barbosa's own identity is more complicated than that of his cat. "I grew up with a sense of identification of being white in Brazilian society." That changed when he came here, because to white Americans it was apparent he was Latin. "The dominant group never thinks they are an ethnic group. In reality, we are all ethnic," he said.
Barbosa was taught growing up that he lived in an "indirect democracy," but Brazil was a dictatorship at the time. When he returned after spending time in the United States, he said, "I was never to be the same person ... suddenly I could see the dynamics of my society from another perspective."
Barbosa brings these experiences, which influenced his own theories, into the classroom to help students gain a new understanding of global problems.
Melinda Norrell has taken "every class I could" from Barbosa, covering topics from ethnic relations to capitalism and development. "He's given me a global perspective I didn't have, and I've learned tolerance from that perspective. It hasn't been easy ... if you're a feeling person, you have to reassess your environment -- that's a hard process."
Hideyuki Yamada has been in this country five years and has taken two of Barbosa's classes. Yamada is from Japan, where, he said, "society is homogenous and has a collective consciousness. Now I have a broader way of seeing the world. He's one of the guys that has inspired me."
Barbosa said he finds advantages to looking at problems with a global perspective. "What's taking place in the Amazon rain forest will eventually effect the whole global community."
Barbosa said globalization means, in part, the diffusion of cultural values -- but economics plays a bigger part. "From my perspective, the global economy simply means the freedom of capital to come and go as it pleases." he said.
"Look for example at the boundaries between Mexico and the United States with (the North American Free Trade Agreement), you have the flexibility now of the flow of capital. But look, immigration is still not on the table (although) it's a major problem between both countries," he said.
Students said Barbosa is approachable and funny, a mix of thoughtfulness and emotion. His lectures are dense with concepts and facts, but he is passionate about many issues. Yet, he sees himself as a "value-free" professor, and students agree.
"He presents the information in a way that allows us to make our own judgments," Norrell said.
Barbosa said, "I find it important to present different sides to the same argument. Obviously, your bias will come out, and I don't try to hide my bias, but I give equal attention to different positions. I really believe people should be informed."
He stressed that his courses are comparative. "It's very important to see how human relationships don't have to be fixed. ... In other societies people relate in different fashions. It helps us understand that what we believe to be truths are actually social constructions," he said.
Some of the toughest issues facing society come up in Barbosa's classes.
"Respect is critical -- the name of the game in my classrooms," he said. "People have to respect me and, above all, their classmates. And I teach some courses where I find I'm walking very thin ice."