Getúlio Vargas is a puzzle—an anti-oligarchical reformer who often
spoke of democratizing Brazilian society, while simultaneously building a strong,
centralist, often repressive state; a hyper-nationalist who would readily exclude
fellow Brazilians who failed to agree with his vision of Brazilianenss; an international
leader who could express a certain fondness for Mussolini as well as Franklin
Delano Roosevelt; the so-called "Father of the Poor" who also earned
the moniker "Mother of the Rich"; a selfless "martyr" of
the Brazilian people who was also a calculating, self-serving demagogue. In
life—and especially in his dramatic death-by-suicide—Vargas was
(and remains) a contradictory, enigmatic figure.
The contradictions around Vargas make it difficult to understand the Vargas era as a unified whole. Is this a period of social and political integration or one in which older patterns of stratification and exclusion are simply modernized? Do the Brazilian "people" really become the protagonists of national history, or is the nationalist-populist language developed during the Vargas era really ruse to undercurrent the ability to challenge a top-down, authoritarian political culture? Does Brazil, under Vargas, become a racial democracy to be admired throughout the world or is this there really an insidious undercurrent of racialized discrimination that is tacitly supported by Vargas and his allies?
You have been provided with the following four primary documents that comment upon Vargas and his era:
Drawing upon these documents, develop a critical assessment of the Vargas era
that tackles the following issues:
In structuring the essay, it is suggested that you:
As always, an essay without an argument makes for a poor read. Mere summary or paraphrase of the primary texts—without explication, context, or historiographic engagement—will result in a low grade.
Each critique should be approximately five-to-six pages (typed, double-spaced, reasonable font and margins). Do not forget page numbering.
The essay is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, May 1, 2003.
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