This paper discusses the relevance of radical scholarship by exploring the case of the Centre International pour le Développement (CID), founded by Brazilian geographer Josué de Castro during his exile in Paris. Drawing upon Latin American works on the “Lettered City” and the evolving role of intellectuals in constructing critical knowledge, I explore new archives revealing the CID’s daily (net)working. My argument is that this case suggests new interpretations of the notion of Lettered City, exposing slipperiness and potentialities of radical intellectuals’ roles in influencing politics and proposing solutions for global problems. On the one hand, despite Castro’s international renown, the CID failed in its mission of involving politicians and “enlightened” businessmen during the Cold War because its purposes clashed with the interests of most of its interlocutors. On the other, the CID’s archives show that Castro performed a powerful global networking to circulate ideas that still inspire radical geographers.

中文翻译：

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分散字母城市：流放、跨国网络和若苏埃·德·卡斯特罗的国际发展中心（1964-1973）

本文通过探讨国际发展中心 (CID) 的案例来讨论激进学术的相关性，该中心由巴西地理学家若苏·德·卡斯特罗 (Josué de Castro) 在流亡巴黎期间创立。借鉴拉丁美洲关于“字母城市”的作品以及知识分子在构建批判性知识中不断演变的作用，我探索了揭示 CID 日常（网络）工作的新档案。我的论点是，这个案例暗示了对字母城市概念的新解释，揭示了激进知识分子在影响政治和为全球问题提出解决方案方面所扮演的角色的狡猾和潜力。一方面，尽管卡斯特罗享誉国际，CID 在冷战期间未能让政客和“开明”的商人参与进来，因为它的目的与大多数对话者的利益相冲突。另一方面，CID 的档案显示，卡斯特罗建立了强大的全球网络，以传播仍然激发激进地理学家的思想。