Afrânio do Amaral, conflicts between science and politics: Butantan Case

Abstract

This article aims to address analytically the political-institutional crisis known as the Butantan Case, which has as one of the central figures the doctor Afrânio do Amaral, at that time director of the Butantan Institute (IBu). This episode shows conflicts of an internal nature that occurred between the 1920s and 1940s, a period which Butantan in the search for a new institutionality, and the other shaped by the external context pointing to issues referred to changes in the relation among state, scientific community, market and institution. The theoretical frameworks were used in this study: historical institutionalism and the concept of path dependence; the concept of field used by Bourdieu; and the concept of behavioral analysis. The review starts with the Legislative Assembly documentation of the State of São Paulo, which contains the speeches of parliamentarians and complementary documentation such as letters and testimonies. The analysis of internal conflicts and the search for new institutionality with the creation of the Experimental Medicine Center are contextualized by the political scenario and the position of the scientist and his beliefs. As final considerations, issues related to the theme of institutionality and the role of scientific capital among leaderships are highlighted by rebuilding changes in power and trajectories. Another point refers to the role of public and private institutes in the area of production of immunobiologicals and medications. The issues mentioned here, in a certain way, dismount the view that decisions involving scientific institutes and public health are taken only by institutional actors or their peers, but are influenced by visions of the leaders of the different administrative and government spheres polarized by other interests and motivations here only evoked by a more specific focus of the Butantan Institute.