Utopian Studies in Brazil: Roots and Routes

This article aims to highlight some of the roots and routes, the beginnings and the potential futures, of a body of scholarly research actions that may be grouped under the umbrella expression “utopian studies in Brazil,” a promising field whose initial trends in the country can be traced—not by chance if one considers the prominence of the Anglo-American tradition in literary utopianism—in the departments of English studies of Brazilian university faculties. This does not mean, however, that there have been no Brazilian utopias/dystopias. Indeed, cultural manifestations of Brazilian utopianisms have played an essential role in Brazil’s history, as will be shown. The article contains a very brief overview of cultural productions that may be aligned with literary utopianism, followed by some of the perceptions regarding utopia and utopianism, focusing specially on the concept as approached by individual scholars, study groups, and research centers that have developed studies in the field.