The roots of a plant that today is Brazil': Indians and the Nation-State under the Brazilian Estado Novo
This article looks at the construction of the Indian by government officials and intellectuals during the Estado Novo (I937-45), and the efforts of indigenous peoples to engage these images. State officials-concerned with national consolidation, territorial defense, and racial pedigree upheld the Indian as an icon who had made invaluable contributions to Brazilian historical and cultural formation. The proto-patriot, however, could only be fully redeemed through government tutelage. Confronted by an ambiguous state project, indigenous groups demonstrated varied responses. This article analyses the cultural building blocks through which the Estado Novo regime (I 93 7-45) sought dominion over indigenous people. A dynamo in the process of Brazilian national integration, the Estado Novo was marked by the centralisation of federal power, broad state intervention in the economy and society, and a nationalist programme.1 In examining how state officials and intellectuals during the Estado Novo fashioned and disseminated notions of Indianness, and how Indians engaged them, we can shed light on the process of state formation at this important juncture in Brazilian history. Drawing inspiration from Philip Corrigan and Derek Sayer's The Great Arch, this article rethinks approaches to the relationship between indigenous people and the Brazilian state.2 In their study of English state Seth Garfield is a Visiting Assistant Professor, Bowdoin College. * The author wishes to thank Emilia Viotti da Costa, Gil Joseph, Jeff Lesser, and the JLAS readers for their helpful comments and suggestions. On the Estado Novo, see E. Carone, O Estado Novo (1937-194) (Rio de Janeiro, 1977); and T. Skidmore, Politics in Brazil, I930-I964 (New York, I986), pp. 30-47. 2 P. Corrigan and D. Sayer, The Great Arch: English State Formation as Cultural Revolution (Oxford, I985). This content downloaded from 207.46.13.193 on Thu, 08 Sep 2016 04:35:29 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms