318 /. Michael Turner
professor/student exchange programmes is very far reaching and extensive.
The USP centre has been active in recruiting African students to attend the
University of Säo Paulo, has encouraged the students to make special presenta-
tions concerning Africa at the school and often served as a kind of unofficial
liaison and at times ombudsman between the African students (including
African diplomat-students before their entry into the Instituto Rio Branco)
and Itamarati. In a manner different from the Salvador and Rio centres, the
group at USP has acted in the role of government adviser for African affairs,
enjoying a free and open relationship with Itamarati.^21
The Säo Paulo centre has presented some public programmes concerning
Africa to the city, however its major focus is academic, providing post-graduate
courses and orientation within the institutional structure provided by USP. At
times the centre has also provided orientation and information for Säo Paulo
industrialists interested in the possibilities and potential growth of the so-
called African markets.^22 Certain Afro-Brazilian groups in Säo Paulo fault
the centre for its lack of interest in Afro-Brazilian affairs and needs and its
overemphasis on seemingly abstract or 'theoretical' problems of African devel-
opment and culture. The overall direction of the USP centre seems to be in
establishing direct university-to-university links with an increasing number of
African institutions in a growing exchange programme.^23 For the foreign
researcher the Säo Paulo centre's influence and advising role with the Brazilian
Government, its good reputation among Brasilia's African embassies and its
reputation within African academic circles should be seen to offer a variety
of useful contacts and orientation, different in nature from those available
in Salvador or Rio. Obviously if time would permit the researcher to visit all
three centres this diversification in orientation could prove valuable for the
study as each centre exhibits a distinctly different approach to the study of Africa.
What possibilities exist for the consolidation of certain kinds of documen-
tation and information provided by the Brazilian African studies centres?
The need for a central documentation centre and a kind of research clearing
house for information concerning actual research projects involving Africa
and Brazil (concomittantly Afro-Brazilian studies) has been discussed by a
number of researchers and continues to demand further investigation and
debate.^24 While institutional co-operation is often difficult to initiate in
academia, if a sufficiently strong case can be made that such sharing of resources
could result in increased financial support for the various institutions involved,
particularly during this period of scant finances for research—it is hoped this
admittedly monetary spur would result in fresh initiatives between the major
centres and some of the other more established institutes of Afro-Brazilian
cultural studies.^25 Clearly the field of study is changing every day and expanding
in new directions, presenting to the novitiate researcher both bewildering
complexities and myriad possibilities.