Ensaios latino-americanos: "caráter nacional" e construćão de estereótipos

Abstract

This article concerns the question of "national character", widely discussed by Latin American intellectuals from the 1930s to the 1950s. I seek to analyze the essays produced by authors who showed great interest in this theme during this period. I attempt to identify aspects in their works that contributed to the formation of stereotypical myths and national types. These works had great national and continental repercussions at the time they were published, and, until today, the national character traits presented in the essays I analyze continue to be mentioned as if they had a scientific basis. I try to show the prejudices that have resulted from these characterizations and that remain alive in the social imagination, serving as a justification for various forms of intolerance.