Gilberto Freyre and Amaury de Medeiros: tensions between cult of tradition and sanitary messianism (Recife, 1923-1926)

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to analyze the affinities and antagonisms between the journalist and sociologist Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987) and the physician and sanitarist Amaury de Medeiros (1893-1928). It studies their protagonism in the creation of the Centro Regionalista do Nordeste (april 1924), in the Semana das Árvores (november 1924) and in the Primeiro Congresso Regionalista do Nordeste (february 1926). The article discusses the convergence between these two men in the defense of regional identity and colonial revival style and their divergences about the mocambos and the qualities of the city and residential architecture inherited from the past. It discusses the debate between Amaury, in charge of a wide sanitary intervention in Pernambuco, and Freyre, committed to fight the emphasis on hygiene at that moment.