“This was the highest honor I’ve ever received” celebrates the professor from Famecos acknowledged by the Paul Valéry Montpellier III University
Photo: Giordano Toldo
The researcher and Journalism professor from PUCRS’ School of Communications, Arts and Design (Famecos) Juremir Machado da Silva received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Paul Valéry Montpellier III University in France. Touched, Juremir says this was the highest honor he’s ever received and that he never thought he’d be honored in such a way: “This values a life dedicated to knowledge, human sciences and education. In my journey, being a journalist and being a professor complement each other. I can’t see myself without these aspects of myself.”
The Honorary Doctorate Degree or Honoris Causa in Latin (“for the sake of the honor”), is awarded to people who are highly influential in their area of expertise. To effectively receive the title, the approval of many people and institutions is needed. For this reason, Juremir is receives the title with great joy. Sometime this year, he should go to France to receive the acknowledgement in person.
“When colleagues decide to pay such a tribute, the heart feels something powerful. An Honorary Doctor goes through someone’s proposal, being approved in multiple instances: a school’s department board, university board, the president’s office and, in France, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A long and meticulous path. In short, I confess, I am touched,” points out Juremir.
The French university has an agreement with PUCRS’ Graduate Program in Communication for over 20 years, and through the initiative, the Journalism professor from Famecos has already acted as visiting professor in 2007 and in 2017, and since 2020 acts remotely in the university. “The Paul Valéry Montpellier III University is a part of Capes-Print, an important mechanism for research exchange. Now, we have five doctorate students in Montpellier and one colleague, Cristiane Freitas, as visiting professor.”
The relationship between the French university and the university from Rio Grande do Sul continues in 2023. In April, the French sociology professor and researcher Philippe Joron will come to Porto Alegre for a lecture. The Paul Valéry University and the PPGCOM/PUCRS also work together in the Journalism, Imaginary and Memory Network (JIM).
Receiving the Honoris Causa title is delightful for the University as well. For PUCRS’s Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies Carlos Eduardo Lobo e Silva, the achievement must be celebrated. “PUCRS receives with joy and with pride the news of one more well-deserved international acknowledgement of the excellence of its teaching staff. Professor Juremir Machado’s journey is an example of the academic excellence which impacts society and changes lives for the better. Awards of this level reassert the strength not only of our research, but also of our education on every level,” he states.
In addition to the relationship with the French university, PUCRS’s PPGCOM also keeps connections with institutions from Portugal, the United States, among other countries. For Rosângela Florczak, professor, researcher and dean from Famecos, connections with international universities help build researches of great impact in the field of Communication, and those who benefit the most are students and researchers.
“Having researchers acknowledged in the international scene is always relevant for an institution which is serious and committed to producing knowledge in the field, like Famecos. In the case of professor Juremir Machado, this privilege is even more special because his practices are distinguished and establish new parameters for the research. And they are not only technical and methodological parameters, but a reference of human attitudes and of care with the field and with people,” she celebrates.
Photo: Giordano Toldo
Born in Santana do Livramento (RS), Juremir Machado da Silva has a degree in History and Journalism from PUCRS, in addition to a doctorate and a postdoctoral degree in Sociology from Sorbonne (Paris V). He worked as an international correspondent in France for the newspaper Zero Hora, in addition to running for ten years the Esfera Pública show on Rádio Gaúcha. During 20 years, he was a columnist on the newspaper Correio do Povo, as well as editorial coordinator for eight years in Cadernos de Sábado, cultural supplement of the Correio do Povo paper. Nowadays, Juremir is a columnist at the Matinal Jornalismo.
As a writer, Juremir published over 40 books among which are “Getúlio” (Record, 2004), “Solo” (Record, 2008), “História regional da infâmia: o destino dos negros farrapos e outras iniquidades brasileiras” (L&PM, 2010), “Brizola e as vozes da Legalidade: política e imaginário na era do rádio”, “Jango: a vida e a morte no exílio” (L&PM, 2013), “Raízes do conservadorismo brasileira: a abolição na imprensa e no imaginário social” (Civilização Brasileira, 2017). In 2022, he published: ”Quase (toda) poesia” and “Machado de Assis: o cronista das classes ociosas: jornalismo, artes, trabalho e escravidão”, both by Sulina.
He also published two interview books – “O pensamento do fim do século” (L&PM, 1993) and “Visões de uma certa Europa”, (Edipucrs, 1998) – with intellectuals and artists such as Umberto Eco, Jürgen Habermas, Astor Piazzolla and Mario Vargas Llosa.
In France, he published “Le Brésil, pays du présent (Desclée de Brouwer, 1999), “Les technologies de l’imaginaire” (La Table Ronde, 2008) and “Avec Michel Houellebecq en Patagonie” (CNRS, 2011. En poche, 2014). Digital French edition: “La Société médiote” (Non lieu, 2016).
He won prizes at the Brasília Book Biennial with “Jango” and from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics with “Raízes do conservadorismo brasileiro”. He was nominated for the Jabuti Award, with “Jango” (2014), and was a finalist with “Um escritor no fim do mundo” (Record, 2012).
Juremir translated over 20 works from French to Portuguese, among which are “Whatever” and “The Elementary Particles”, by Michel Houellebecq, having introduced the work of the French novelist in Brazil. He translated four of the six volumes of the main work of the great French philosopher Edgar Morin, “Method” (Sulina). He also translated works from writers like Alain Robbe-Grillet and Claude Simon, in addition to 84 poems chosen from Charles Baudelaire’s “Flowers of Evil”.
Currently, he is a Full Professor at PUCRS and coordinator of the Graduate Program in Communication. As a researcher, he studies the imaginary and is also a part of the Imagination Technologies Research Group. The Journalist is also a part of the editorial board of the Sociétés journal, created by Michel Maffesoli and edited by the Montpellier III University, one of the most important publications on the imaginary in the world.
