O continente que virou uma nação? Aspectos do Brasil e da geografia brasileira nos textos de Aroldo de Azevedo

Abstract

This research aims to understand whether there is a relation between the institutionalization of Geography in Brazil and the construction/consolidation of a hegemonic Brazilian national ideology, through the analysis of Aroldo de Azevedo’s academic texts, published between the 1930s and 1970s. From this writings, were selected those that broach about theoretical-methodological conceptions of Geography, as well as those that discuss aspects related to Brazil. The aim of this choice was to characterize Aroldo de Azevedos’Geography and to understand how his production contributed, or not, to the construction of a “certain” Brazil. What would this Brazil be? That is what we intend to answer throughout the development of this research. It is considered that a “social view of the world” by the Brazilian geographer is inextricably linked to his geographic knowledge / practice. Therefore, it has become indispensable to analyze his figure by integrating it into the historical context and the social groups he belonged to. Understanding his texts as discourses and starting from the perspective of discourse as a possibility for social change, we choose the use of Critical Discourse Analysis, based on the proposition of N. Fairclough (2001), as a methodology. In addition, we use the Grammar of Visual Design due to the wide use of imagery resources by geographic science. It presents how Aroldo de Azevedo was situated in the debate carried out by Brazilian intelligence about national identity. Who were his main interlocutors? It was possible to identify the speech of Aroldo de Azevedo as part of the hegemonic speech of “re-praising Portuguese colonization”, more prone to continuity this process than break it.