Brazil in the Making. Facets of National Identity (review)

This book explores the evolution of the Brazilian national culture by questioning the essence of Brazilian identity through the examination of texts, historical facts, visual representations and music. In the introduction “A Four-Part Canon for the Analysis of Brazilian National Identity,” Ludwig Lauerhass exposes the general theoretical framework of the chapters and provides a chronological overview of the major periods of the formation of Brazilian national cultural identity. The book consists of nine chapters divided by the different areas of the “four-part canon”: “Texts” (3 chapters), “Facts” (2 chapters), “Sights” (3 chapters), and “Sounds” (1 chapter). Though it is regrettable that there is only one contribution in the last section that is currently a very rich area of research, the volume presents a nice sampling of the different areas and approaches the complex topic of national identity methodologically from complementary angles. At the end of the volume there is a three-page timeline of Brazilian history that serves as a useful point of reference, an index to all the chapters of the book, and information about the contributors and translators.

The first section focuses on the texts of canonical Brazilian writers: Machado de Assis, Euclides da Cunha and Gilberto Freyre. “Machado de Assis and the Question of Brazilian National Identity” by Efraín Kristal and José Luis Passos reviews the literary criticism of Machado’s novels in relation to discussions of Brazilian national identity. “Euclides da Cunha’s View of Brazil’s Fractured Identity” by Dain Borges discusses the genesis and reception of da Cunha’s canonical work Rebellion in the Backlands and analyzes its surprising interpretation as a classic nationalist text. “Gilberto Freyre’s Concept of Culture in The Masters and the Slaves” by José Luis Passos and Valéria Costa e Silva focuses on the meaning of race and culture in Freyre’s work, as well as a review of the relationship of Freyre’s thought to other theorists. A common trait to all three of the above chapters is that they summarize the primary texts that they analyze, rendering their discussion accessible to the non-specialized reader.

In the second section, “Facts,” the first chapter “Brasiliana: Published Works and Collections” by José Mindlin and Cristina Antunes presents an indicative history of printed materials in Brazil, the roles of key people who promoted Brasiliana, and selective information about some of the main public and private libraries. “Forging Future Citizens in Brazilian Public Schools, 1937–1945” by Carmen Nava presents a very interesting insight into the official discourse of the Estado Novo though an analysis of public schoolbooks, with a focus on the representation of gender and race. Some very telling illustrations accompany this essay.

In the next section “Sights,” three chapters address the visual images of national identity. “The Visual Imaging of Brazilian Identity” by Ludwig Lauerhass, Jr. beautifully illustrates and analyzes the different phases and facets of a visual Brazil, through sketches, books, mass-media, magazines and photographs, spanning the colonial period to the present day. Robert Stam’s chapter “Cinematic Images of the Brazilian Indian” takes a cultural studies approach to the representation of the Indian in film throughout the twentieth century, including an interesting section on “indigenous media” used to promote the interests of indigenous people. In “The Emperor and His Pedestal: Pedro I and Disputed Views of the Brazilian Nation, 1860–1900,” James Green discusses the interpretation of a statue of Dom Pedro I, inaugurated as a founding symbol of the Brazilian nation, and includes in his analysis caricatures and cartoons that satirize aspects of the imperial reign. Reproductions of photographs and illustrations add visual contextualization to the analysis.

The last section is constituted by the chapter “Two Musical Representations of Brazil: Carlos Gomes and Villa Lobos,” by Cristina Magaldi, that analyzes the reception and interpretation of Gomes’s “Il Guarany” and Villa-Lobos’ “Choros no. 10” as symbols of Brazilian national identity.

This volume has the merit of bringing the...