![\"Jo\u00e3o](\"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/livro-sob-a-egide-da-minerva.jpg\")
Amassing a body of work that reflects his wide-ranging intellectual life\u2014as a researcher and writer, as well as a man of samba\u2014Vargens portrays in Sob a \u00e9gide da Minerva \u2013 Meio s\u00e9culo de doc\u00eancia na UFRJ: 1975 \u2013 2025 <\/em>[Under the aegis of Minerva \u2013 Half a century of teaching at UFRJ: 1975\u20132025] a vibrant career that went far beyond the classroom. It was shaped by projects abroad, by the creation of new paths to strengthen the teaching of Arabic in Brazil, and by discoveries and reflections shared through books and other endeavors. Minerva\u2014the figure invoked in the book\u2019s title and a symbol of UFRJ\u2014is the goddess of wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Sob a \u00e9gide da Minerva<\/em>, Vargens recounts how his Portuguese literature teacher in high school influenced him to pursue a degree in Letters. It was also during adolescence that the teacher read books by the Brazilian writer Malba Tahan, who wrote stories set in Arab lands. That period also marked his personal encounter with the Arab cause. Vargens enrolled in UFRJ\u2019s Arabic program as part of the third cohort offered by the university, in the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the book, Vargens recounts his work in lexicography as a teaching assistant, at a time when compiling a dictionary meant using index cards and storing them by letter in shoeboxes. This was also a period when Vargens attended rehearsals at Portela, one of Rio de Janeiro\u2019s greatest samba schools, and began teaching, under the authorization then granted to students to give classes in non-degree courses and private schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it rained heavily, everything flooded. You had to roll your pants up to your knees, take off your shoes and socks, and muster plenty of resolve to cross the flooded railway line<\/p>Jo\u00e3o Baptista de Medeiros Vargens<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \u201cI worked the night shift and rushed out of the School of Letters in time to catch the train leaving Central do Brasil at 6:03 p.m. Sometimes I was late, and then I had to go to Leopoldina Station, the terminus of the line with the same name. From Caxias, after a hot dog and a complimentary Coke, there was one more bus to reach my destination. When it rained heavily, everything flooded. You had to roll your pants up to your knees, take off your shoes and socks, and muster plenty of resolve to cross the flooded railway line,\u201d he recalls in the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The book also recounts a trip to Bras\u00edlia to seek contact with Arab diplomats based in the capital and the return to Rio carrying donations: a mechanical typewriter with Arabic characters and books for the university library. Abuna\u2014Arabic for \u201cour father\u201d\u2014was how Vargens and the other students referred to Monsignor Alphonse Nagib Sabbagh, founder of the Arabic Studies Program at UFRJ and a recurring figure in the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His entry into the university as a teaching assistant is also recounted in the book, as is his departure for Syria to attend a specialization course in Arabic for Foreigners in Damascus. \u201cI began my first international trip aboard a Boeing 707 aircraft operated by Royal Air Maroc. At the time, there were two weekly Rio\u2013Casablanca flights,\u201d he writes. He was soon joined by his then wife, \u00c1urea de Paiva. They returned to Brazil with her pregnant, expecting their son, Omar T\u00e1rik\u2014named in homage to Omar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph of Islam, and Tariq ibn Ziyad, the conqueror of the Iberian Peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n In the 1980s, Vargens was elected head of the Department of Oriental and Slavic Languages at the Faculty of Letters, which includes the Arabic Studies Program. From there, he continued his trajectory, advocating for the opening of a Palestinian Embassy in Brazil, giving a lecture in Morocco that already reflected his research on enslaved Muslims in Brazil, translating a book by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, spending three years teaching in Morocco, and helping to establish cooperation between Brazilian and Arab universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The creation of the publishing house Alm\u00e1dena took place in the late 2000s, together with his wife, Renata Mansour, with the aim of disseminating the academic output of the Arabic Studies Program at UFRJ\u2019s Faculty of Letters and publishing works that had not been taken up by other publishers. Vargens also briefly recounts in the book his research into the collection of Emperor Dom Pedro II, based on the monarch\u2019s travels to the Arab world. The Brazilian intellectual\u2019s work was recognized by Arabs themselves on at least two occasions: when Vargens was one of the recipients of the 2011 UNESCO Sharjah Prize and when he was awarded the King Abdullah Prize in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The book also recounts several other projects and experiences from Vargens\u2019 career, in the personal tone characteristic of the author, offering readers engaging details from each story. The publication also includes photographs and a biobibliography that he describes as \u201cthe reverse side of the stitching,\u201d as it presents the context in which each of his books was developed. With 164 pages, Sob a \u00e9gide da Minerva<\/em>, published in Portuguese, is available for purchase on the Alm\u00e1dena publishing house website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more<\/em>: Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Em](\"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/joao-baptista-vargens-1.jpg\")
From Lebanese roots to Brazilian ballet<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n