{{Short description|Anarchist author and psychiatrist (1927–2008)}} {{Infobox person | name = Roberto Freire | image = ROBERTO -1982618057.jpg | alt = | caption = Freire in 2003 | birth_name = Joaquim Roberto Corrêa Freire | birth_date = 18 January 1927 | birth_place = São Paulo, Brazil | death_date = 23 May 2008 | death_place = São Paulo, Brazil | other_names = | occupation = Medical psychiatrist and writer | education = University of Brazil/RJ | years_active = | known_for = Somatheraphy | notable_works = | children = Paulo Freire (musician)<br> Tuco Freire (musician).<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br/pessoas/1793-paulo-freire|title=Paulo Freire|first=Instituto Itaú|last=Cultural|website=Enciclopédia Itaú Cultural}}</ref> | movement = 24px Anarchism }} '''Roberto Freire''' (São Paulo, b. January 18, 1927; São Paulo, d. May 23, 2008) was a medical psychiatrist and Brazilian writer. He created somatherapy (Portuguese: somaterapia), also referred to as SOMA, an anarchist therapy based on the then radical new ideas of Wilhelm Reich, as well as the Brazilian martial art Capoeira Angola. As an active writer, Freire published more than thirty books in his life, among these his 1966 work ''Cleo e Daniel'' was a bestseller.<ref>Ferraz, G. S. (2021). From counterculture to somatherapy: the creation and early development of an anarchist therapy. História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos, 28, 212.</ref> == Early life and education == Joaquim Roberto Corrêa Freire was born in São Paulo on 18 January 1927.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |title=[Brazil] Roberto Freire, Bigode, dies. A therapist, writer. A passionate anarchist. |url=https://www.alasbarricadas.org/noticias/?q=node/7732 |website=Alasbarricadas.org |access-date=5 January 2026}}</ref> Freire studied medicine before going on to conduct research in electrophysiology and cellular biophysics with Carlos Chagas Filho at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.<ref name="auto1"/> In 1953, Freire moved to Paris to work at the Collège de France in experimental endocrinology with Robert Courrier.<ref name="auto1"/> Freire completed training in psychoanalysis with the Sociedade Brasileira de Psicanálise de São Paulo, under the guidance of Henrique Schloman.<ref name="auto1"/> In 1956, Freire worked in clinical support at the Juqueri Psychiatric Hospital in Franco da Rocha.<ref name="auto1"/>
== Somatherapy == '''Somatherapy''' (or '''Soma''') was created by Freire in the 1970s as a group therapy,<ref name="anarchymag1">[http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ajoda-soma "Soma - An anarchist play therapy"] by ''Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed''</ref> based on the research of the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich.<ref>{{cite web|last=Liss |first=Jennifer |url=https://www.alternet.org/story/41645/therapy_for_revolutionaries |title="Therapy for Revolutionaries" by Jennifer Liss |publisher=AlterNet.org |date=2006-09-15 |access-date=2010-12-29}}</ref> With the objective of freeing the individual to be more creative, the exercises in Soma work with the relationship between the body and emotions. The therapy integrates a structural critique, as it "seeks to liberate the individual from the neurosis caused by a repressive society".<ref name="auto">Ferraz, G. S. (2020). “As pessoas nascem anarquistas ou não”: a ideia de um anarquismo visceral em Roberto Freire. Artcultura: Revista de História, Cultura e Arte, 22(41), 220.</ref> Somatherapy is intended to "challenge authoritarian politics and competitve capitalist social relationships at a personal level, by cultivating bodily awareness and producing non-authoritarian social relationships".<ref name="auto4">Firth, R. (2016). Somatic pedagogies: Critiquing and resisting the affective discourse of the neoliberal state from an embodied anarchist perspective. Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization, 16, 133.</ref> Other essential ingredients in Soma are the studies of antipsychiatry related to human communication and the Brazilian martial art / dance Capoeira Angola.<ref name="anarchymag1"/> Soma groups last a year and a half, with frequent sessions, including usually one full weekend per month for the entire group, as well as frequent capoeira classes, study sessions, social activities, and two self-organized group trips. These times together allow the participants to build and develop the group dynamic, in line with the principles of anarchism.<ref name="anarchymag1"/>
Freire's therapeutic approach grew from his experiences with the Centro de Estudos Macunaíma alongside the theatre scholars Myriam Muniz and Sylvio Zilber and the architecture professor Flávio Império.<ref name="auto"/> Freire's engagement with the 'Living Theater' theatre group and the theoretical work of Wilhelm Reich were also important influences.<ref name="auto"/> Freire also drew from the work of Max Striner, Gregory Bateson, Frederick Perls, and Thomas Hanna.<ref name="auto4"/> Most of Freire's original writing has yet to be translated to English.<ref name="auto4"/> Most of Freire's original writing concerning somatherapy has yet to be translated to English.<ref>Firth, R. (2016). Somatic pedagogies: Critiquing and resisting the affective discourse of the neoliberal state from an embodied anarchist perspective. Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization, 16, 132.</ref>
== Politics == Freire explained, in a 1983 interview with ''Jornal Psi'', that "I always felt like an anarchist, but an anarchist of spontaneous consciousness devoid of 'pre' ideology", later he "became a Marxist" and "got involved with the Communist Party" which he eventually left and "got involved with Ação Popular" instead.<ref name="auto3">Ferraz, G. S. (2020). “As pessoas nascem anarquistas ou não”: a ideia de um anarquismo visceral em Roberto Freire. Artcultura: Revista de História, Cultura e Arte, 22(41), 226.</ref>
== Personal life == Freire had three children including Paulo de Oliveira Freire (born 1957) and Pedro ('Tuco') De Oliveira Freire (14 October 1954 - 20 October 2015).<ref name="auto3"/><ref name="auto2"/> Paulo is a musician, as was Tuco.<ref name="auto2"/> Friere was married, however this ended in 1972 - and he described it as a "bourgeois marriage".<ref name="auto3"/> In an interview with ''Diário da Tarde'', Friere stated that he raised his children with the "libertarian pedagogy" that "we anarchists have developed".<ref name="auto3"/> ==Works== ===Written work=== *Freire, R. (1966). ''Cleo e Daniel'' *Freire, R. and Brito, F. (1984). ''Utopia e Paixão – A politica do cotidiano'' *Freire, R. (1977). ''Viva eu, viva tu, vivao rabo do tatu!'' *Freire, R. (1982). ''Tchau Amor'' *Freire, R. (1986). ''Coiote'' *Freire, R. (1987). ''Ame e Dê Vexame'' *Freire, R. (1987). ''Sem Tesão Não Há Solução'' *Freire, R. (1988). ''SOMA, Vol 1 – A alma é o Corpo'' *Freire, R. (1991). ''SOMA, Vol 2 – A Arma é o Corpo''. {{ISBN|978-85-277-0188-4}} *Freire, R. (1991). ''Histórias Cultas e Grossas, Vol 1 & 2'' *Freire, R. (1992). ''A Farsa Ecológica'' *Freire, R. (1994). ''A fórmula da esperança'' *Freire, R. (1994). ''Moleques de rua'' *Freire, R. (1994). ''O Milagre de Santa Chorona'' *Freire, R. (1994). ''Domadores, Mágicos e Ladrões'' *Freire, R. (1995). ''A Revolta dos Meninos'' *Freire, R. (1995). ''Tesudos de todo o mundo, uni-vos!'' *Freire, R. (1995). ''Os Cúmplices, Vol 1'' *Freire, R. (1996). ''Os Cúmplices, Vol 2'' *Freire, R. (1999). ''Liv e Tatziu – Uma História de Amor Incestuoso''. {{ISBN|978-85-250-3150-1}} *Freire, R. (1999). ''O Tesão e o Sonho'' *Freire, R. (1999). ''O tesão e o sonho'' *Freire, R. (2003). ''O Momento Culminante'' *Freire, R. (2003). ''Eu é um outro'' ===Film and television=== *''Marcados pelo Amor'' (1964) *''Cleo e Daniel'' (1970) *''O Amor É Nosso'' (1981) *''Banzo'' (1964) *''Eu E a Moto'' (1972)
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* [http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br/pessoa400283/roberto-freire Roberto Freire] * [http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2008/05/405070-escritor-e-psiquiatra-roberto-freire-morre-aos-81-anos-em-sp.shtml Escritor e psiquiatra Roberto Freire morre aos 81 anos em SP - 24/05/2008 - Ilustrada]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Freire, Roberto}} Category:1927 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Brazilian psychiatrists Category:20th-century Brazilian male writers Category:Brazilian anarchists Category:20th-century Brazilian medical doctors