Avoiding the Dark: Essays on Race and the Forging of National Culture in Modern Brazil

First published in 1999. This work examines the processes by which Brazilian nationalists forged and propagated an all-inclusive national identity, which attempted to promote racial harmony in the first four decades of the twentieth century. Specific emphasis is given to the rising patriotic feelings under the administration of President Getulio Vargas, which culminated in the creation of Estado Novo in 1937. Vargas’ generation succeeded in encouraging Brazilians to identify with ‘the nation’ above other possible communities, such as radical, ethnic or regional ones. In the process, nationalists created enduring national myths and symbols which successfully marginalised racial consciousness for the rest of the twentieth century.