Lusotropicalism
Lusotropicalism (Portuguese: Lusotropicalismo) is a term and "quasi-theory"[1] developed by Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre to describe the distinctive character of Portuguese imperialism overseas, proposing that the Portuguese were better colonizers than other European nations.[2][3]
Freyre theorized that because of Portugal's warmer climate, and having been inhabited by Celts, Romans, Visigoths, Moors and several other peoples in pre-modern times, the Portuguese were more humane, friendly, and adaptable to other climates and cultures. He saw "Portuguese-based cultures as cultures of ecumenical expansion" and suggested that "Lusotropical culture was a form of resistance against both the 'barbaric' Soviet communist influence, and the also 'barbarian' process of Americanization and capitalist expansion."[3]
In addition, by the early 20th century, Portugal was by far the
Background
The beginning of the
During the
Application during the Estado Novo
Prior to Freyre's publication of Casa-Grande & Senzala, few—if any—Portuguese politicians and colonial administrators conceived of the Portuguese Empire as a multicultural, multiracial, and
Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar strongly resisted Freyre's ideas throughout the 1930s and 1940s, partly because Freyre claimed the Portuguese were more prone to miscegenation than other European nations. He adopted lusotropicalism only after sponsoring Freyre on a visit to Portugal and some of its overseas territories in 1951 and 1952. Freyre's work Aventura e Rotina (Adventure and Routine) was a result of this trip.
Salazar adopted lusotropicalism by asserting that since Portugal had been a multicultural, multiracial, and pluricontinental nation since the 15th century, losing its overseas territories in Africa and Asia would dismember the country and end Portuguese independence.[3] According to Salazar, in geopolitical terms, losing these territories would decrease the Portuguese state's self-sufficiency.
Critique
Freyre's response to criticism
The life of Freyre, after he published Casa-Grande & Senzala, became an eternal source of explanation. He repeated several times that he did not create the myth of a
"The interpretation of those who want to place me among the sociologists or anthropologists who said prejudice of race among the Portuguese or the Brazilians never existed is extreme. What I have always suggested is that such prejudice is minimal... when compared to that which is still in place elsewhere, where laws still regulate relations between Europeans and other groups".
"It is not that racial prejudice or social prejudice related to complexion are absent in Brazil. They exist. But no one here would have thought of "white-only" Churches. No one in Brazil would have thought of laws against interracial marriage ... Fraternal spirit is stronger among Brazilians than racial prejudice, colour, class or religion. It is true that equality has not been reached since the end of slavery.... There was racial prejudice among plantation owners, there was social distance between the masters and the slaves, between whites and blacks.... But few wealthy Brazilians were as concerned with racial purity as the majority were in the Old South".[6]
See also
- Eurasianism
- Lusosphere
- Overseas province
- Pluricontinentalism
- Racial democracy
- Luso-Africans
- Tropicalismo
- Fifth Empire
References
- ^ Burke, Peter; Pallares-Burke, Maria Lúcia G. (2008). Gilberto Freyre: Social Theory in the Tropics. Witney, Oxfordshire, England: Peter Lang Oxford. pp. 188–189.
- ISBN 9780807831991– via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d Miguel Vale de Almeida, Portugal’s Colonial Complex: From Colonial Lusotropicalism to Postcolonial Lusophony
- ^ "A presença africana é a mais importante que temos" (Diário de Notícias) https://www.dn.pt/sociedade/a-presenca-africana-e-a-mais-importante-que-temos-5336490.html
- ^ a b c d Castelo, Cláudia (5 March 2013). "O luso-tropicalismo e o colonialismo português tardio". Buala (in Portuguese, English, and French). Retrieved 15 April 2022.
- ^ a b "A importância de Gilberto Freyre para a construção da Nação Brasileira - Parte II - Instituto Millenium". 11 December 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
Further reading
- Castelo, Cláudia, O Modo Português de estar no Mundo' O luso-tropicalismo e a ideologia colonial portuguesa (1933–1961). Porto: Edições Afrontamento, 1999.
- Cahen, Michel, "'Portugal is in the Sky': Conceptual Considerations on Communities, Lusitanity and Lusophony", in E.Morier-Genoud & M.Cahen (eds), Imperial Migrations. Colonial Communities and Diaspora in the Portuguese World, London: Palgrave, 2012.
- Nery da Fonseca, Edson. Em Torno de Gilberto Freyre. Recife: Editora Massangana, 2007.
- Nery da Fonseca, Edson. Gilberto Freyre de A a Z – Referências essenciais à sua vida e obra. Rio de Janeiro: Zé mario Editor, 2002.
- Ribeiro, Ana Beatriz. Modernization Dreams, Lusotropical Promises: A Global Studies Perspective on Brazil-Mozambique Development Discourse (Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies, vol. 23). Leiden: Brill, 2020.
- Vakil, Abdoolkarim, "'Mundo Pretuguês': Colonial and Postcolonial Diasporic Dis/articulations", in E.Morier-Genoud & M.Cahen (eds), Imperial Migrations. Colonial Communities and Diaspora in the Portuguese World, London: Palgrave, 2012.
- Villon, Victor. O Mundo Português que Gilberto Freyre Criou – seguido de Diálogos com Edson Nery da Fonseca. Rio de Janeiro, Vermelho Marinho, 2010.