O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar a constituição de propostas de pesquisas e de narrativas políticas sobre a questão racial no Brasil nas décadas de 1950 e 1960 e, eventualmente, nuançar a emergência nesse debate de uma problemática que se chamará de multicultural. Esta investigação tem convergido, mais especificamente, para a atuação da Fundação Ford nestas décadas, bem como para a observação das redes e conexões intelectuais que se teceram a partir das dinâmicas de enfrentamentos políticos, travados durante a Guerra Fria. O foco da análise e da pesquisa tem sido dirigido para a documentação sobre a Fundação Ford, sobre as políticas governamentais norte-americanas, especialmente as secretas e diplomáticas, e para os materiais relativos à movimentação, e à construção de conexões entre intelectuais, iniciadas na década de 1950 com financiamentos a estudos da questão racial e do Problema Negro.

My research builds on the hypothesis that U.S. agencies, such as the Ford Foundation restructured in 1950 to adhere to new international guidelines in the post-war era -, drew up an agenda for investing in the racial issue, directed at intellectuals and academics from several parts of the world. Brazil was one of the regions of the globe covered by this strategy. The general aim of this work is to understand the web of networks and intellectual connections, initiated in the 1950s, and the roles and responsibilities of the Ford Foundation in the 1950s and 1960s in developing these intellectual dynamics. Racism has been an important reason for many geopolitical disputes in the post-war period, and a key question for the black American population, concerning the administration of their social problems. That question has been approached both by private foundations and government bodies but each organization has sought to influence discussion forums with their own agendas. The financial support of the Ford Foundation to intellectuals, universities, area studies, social and political leaders, as well as to national and international organizations, has helped to direct the discussion about race in other directions.