Reforma universitaria y Nueva Izquierda Intelectual. Aproximaciones a partir de los casos de J. C. Portantiero y J. M. Aricó

• Main Author: Diego García
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centre de Recherches sur les Mondes Américains 2020-10-01
• Series: Nuevo mundo - Mundos Nuevos
• Subjects: University Reform; New Left; reformism; intellectuals
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/82155

The article considers the various perceptions and interpretations of the 1918 University Reform made by José Carlos Portantiero (1934-2007) and José María Aricó (1931-1991), two recognized figures of the so-called Argentina “new intellectual left” (Terán, 1991). Both intellectuals shared – in a relationship marked by friendship – numerous projects and situations that delimited their respective intellectual trajectories from early activism in the Communist Party in the 1950s to support for Alfonsinism in the 1980s. This paper suggest is that this prolonged proximity did not imply that Aricó and Portantiero shared a common perception of the University Reform, its importance and its legacy. On the contrary, their opinions and interpretations on the University Reform changed along the time and had a different weight in their own intellectual work. These perceptions may indicate, on the ideological and political level, an ambiguous and variable relationship between reformism and the new left, but also that the University Reform became an object of reflection that fits to the various projects and intellectual concerns of Aricó and Portantiero.