Imagens do Brasil

Abstract

"Portraits of Brazil", "interpretation of Brazil"; "Brazilian social thought", "theories about Brazil" are all terms that refer to a fundamental unit, namely, the existence of a certain country. Indeed, there is a long intellectual tradition devoted to coming to terms with such a country, which include a myriad of authors who are considered to partake of this partheon of notorious interpreters (Rocha Pita, Varnhagen, Sílvio Romero, Nina Rodrigues, Euclydes da Cunha, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, Gilberto Freyre, Cai Prado Jr., Darcy Ribeiro, just to name some of them). This scholarly debate about national identity rests on certain analytical categories, among which nation and culture stand out. The present article intends to inquire into the meaning of such a debate in the contemporary scene. To what extent the global transformations that occurred in recent times have an impact on the images that Brazilians project on themselves, that is, do the symbolic representations built around the Brazilian tradition are impacted by such events? What is their intellectual legacy?