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Film, Video The Natural Nation: Tropical Imaginings and Ecologies of Abjection in Brazilian Literature

Event video

About this Item

Title

  • The Natural Nation: Tropical Imaginings and Ecologies of Abjection in Brazilian Literature

Summary

  • Brazil is paradise; everyone knows that. European explorers of the region praised its exuberant greenery and natural abundance, and some even imagined themselves to be honing in on the Garden of Eden. During the 20th century, nationalist discourses of mesticagem and brasileridade proclaimed Brazil a perfectly blended racial and cultural utopia. Effective in creating a homogenous national identity spanning cultural and geographical diversity, the official discourse of Brazil as a natural, racial and cultural paradise also implied the marginalization of anyone (or anywhere) that did not conform to its designs. The rebellious nature and cultural wilds of places like the interior Sertoes of Northeastern Brazil, Mato Grosso and the Amazon Basin embodied a challenge to national definition. Largely unmapped, demarcated only cursorily, they were in Brazil, but they were not Brazil. This presentation traces the formation of an early 20th century Brazilian literature of ecological otherness that frequently represents environmental and cultural difference not only as abjection, but also as a threat to the modern nation.

Names

  • Library of Congress
  • John W. Kluge Center (Library of Congress), sponsoring body

Created / Published

  • Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 2008-11-13.

Headings

  • -  Architecture, Landscape
  • -  Environment, Conservation
  • -  Literature
  • -  Biography, History
  • -  Education

Notes

  • -  Classification: Agriculture.
  • -  Classification: Education.
  • -  Classification: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation.
  • -  Classification: Language and Literature.
  • -  Mark Anderson.
  • -  Recorded on 2008-11-13.
  • -  Researchers.

Medium

  • 1 online resource

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021688033

Online Format

  • video
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Library Of Congress, and Sponsoring Body John W. Kluge Center. The Natural Nation: Tropical Imaginings and Ecologies of Abjection in Brazilian Literature. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -11-13, 2008. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021688033/.

APA citation style:

Library Of Congress & John W. Kluge Center, S. B. (2008) The Natural Nation: Tropical Imaginings and Ecologies of Abjection in Brazilian Literature. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -11-13. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021688033/.

MLA citation style:

Library Of Congress, and Sponsoring Body John W. Kluge Center. The Natural Nation: Tropical Imaginings and Ecologies of Abjection in Brazilian Literature. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -11-13, 2008. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021688033/>.