Decentring the Lettered City: Exile, Transnational Networks, and Josué de Castro’s Centre International pour le Développement (1964–1973)

This paper discusses the relevance of radical scholarship by exploring the case of the Centre International pour le Developpement (CID), founded by Brazilian geographer Josue de Castro during his exile in Paris. Drawing upon Latin American works on the “Lettered City” and the evolving role of intellectuals in constructing critical knowledge, I explore new archives revealing the CID’s daily (net)working. My argument is that this case suggests new interpretations of the notion of Lettered City, exposing slipperiness and potentialities of radical intellectuals’ roles in influencing politics and proposing solutions for global problems. On the one hand, despite Castro’s international renown, the CID failed in its mission of involving politicians and “enlightened” businessmen during the Cold War because its purposes clashed with the interests of most of its interlocutors. On the other, the CID’s archives show that Castro performed a powerful global networking to circulate ideas that still inspire radical geographers.