At a meeting held on August 25, the University Council approved the awarding of the *Doctor Honoris Causa* title to singer, songwriter, and musician Gilberto Gil and to photographer, artist, and activist Cláudia Andujar.
The proposal to grant the title to Gilberto Gil was submitted by the School of Communications and Arts (ECA)—through its Department of Cinema, Radio, and Television—which highlighted that the singer "is one of the greatest figures in national culture of the 20th and 21st centuries."
Meanwhile, the proposal to award the honor to Cláudia Andujar was presented by the School of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) in recognition of "the honoree's invaluable contribution to the arts and human rights, particularly her tireless advocacy for Indigenous peoples in Brazil."
The *Doctor Honoris Causa* title is an honor bestowed by USP upon individuals who have contributed to the advancement of the sciences, letters, or arts; who have provided exceptional service to humanity or the country; or who have rendered significant service to the University. Since its inception over 92 years ago, the University has awarded 125 *Doctor Honoris Causa* titles. The most recent was awarded to journalist Vladimir Herzog in February of this year.
"Awarding these titles to Gilberto Gil and Cláudia Andujar represents USP’s recognition of careers that transcend the boundaries of their respective mediums and are intertwined with Brazil's own cultural and social history. These are artists who have used their work to understand the country, broaden horizons, and affirm the importance of freedom, diversity, and human dignity through music and photography. For USP, honoring Gilberto Gil and Cláudia Andujar means acknowledging that the production of knowledge is not limited to academic spaces," noted USP Rector Aluisio Segurado. Gilberto Gil was born in Salvador, Bahia, on June 26, 1942. He began his musical career as a child, playing the accordion and drawing inspiration from Luiz Gonzaga and Northeastern Brazilian music. Later, he gravitated toward bossa nova and adopted the acoustic and electric guitar as the central instruments of his work.
In 1963, he met Caetano Veloso, and together they helped create *Tropicalismo*—a movement that, in the late 1960s, blended Brazilian music, rock, popular culture, and artistic avant-garde styles. In 1969, after being arrested by the military dictatorship, Gil and Caetano went into exile in London.
Upon returning to Brazil in 1972, Gil built one of the most significant and influential careers in Brazilian popular music. He reinforced his role in resisting the dictatorship through iconic songs such as "Cálice"—co-written with Chico Buarque—which addresses the silencing effect of censorship and the violence of imprisonment and torture. In 1973, he gave a historic performance at the USP Polytechnic School (Poli) for an audience of over a thousand people; the event became a major milestone in the underground artistic struggle.
He also played a significant role in public life. He served as Minister of Culture from 2003 to 2008, a period during which he drove a structural and conceptual transformation of Brazilian cultural policies. In 2006, at USP, Gil participated in the launch of the project for the Guita and José Mindlin Brasiliana Library (BBM) building and the new headquarters of the Institute of Brazilian Studies (IEB); the project was conceived not only for preservation but also to house a bold initiative to digitize collections, thereby contributing to the democratization of the country's memory. In 2021, he was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters, occupying Chair No. 20.
Cláudia Andujar was born on June 12, 1931, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, to a Swiss mother and a Jewish father of Hungarian descent. During World War II, her father and other family members were killed in the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps. In 1944, she fled with her mother to Switzerland and later moved to the United States.
She arrived in Brazil in 1955 to reunite with her mother and decided to stay in the country. In São Paulo, she began working with photography. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she traveled across various regions and worked for both Brazilian and international magazines, such as *Life* and *Realidade*.
It was while working for *Realidade* magazine—on a special issue about the Amazon published in 1971—that Cláudia first encountered the Yanomami people. This encounter would transform both her life and her work. From then on, she returned to the region countless times, producing photographs that combined documentation, artistic experimentation, and a deep engagement with the cosmology and daily life of that people.
Cláudia became a leading advocate for Yanomami rights and played an active role in the struggle to protect their territory, working toward the demarcation of indigenous lands—a goal achieved in 1992 with the creation of the Yanomami Indigenous Territory.