Race and modernity in Formação do Brasil Contemporâneo By Caio Prado Jr.

Abstract

In this article we argue that Caio Prado Júnior's main work sets a clear sense of hierarchy of cultures in order to interpret Brazil. In this interpretive framework, Western culture takes leadership over historical transformations. In contrast, the non-Western cultures of Brazilian colonial matrix (African and Amerindian) are considered to play a minor role in the nation-building of modern Brazil. We intend to show that, according to the book Formação do Brasil contemporâneo, Brazil would only become a modern nation through a process of cultural westernization.