PORTUGAL NO BRASIL (1951): REGIÕES BRASILEIRAS NO OLHAR DA EMBAIXADA UNIVERSITÁRIA DE COIMBRA

Abstract

In the early 1950s, the University Embassy of Coimbra was established to visit Brazil. Among other objectives, it was about perceiving (and demarcating) the Portuguese presence on this side of the Atlantic. More broadly, the purpose implied to consolidate 'the awareness of the historical greatness of Portugal'. The objectives, as well as the activities, are found in the report published in 1953. This same report was again published in 1954, the 3rd Centenary of the Restoration of Pernambuco. Using the concept of region, this report divided Brazil into two major territories: that of equality / identity with Portugal and that of difference. We assume that such a view was deeply marked by Salazar's historical and political culture, therefore in a perspective averse to modernism. We will try to understand the selection of the presupposed differences, but also, to perceive political issues present in the observation of the so-called expressions of 'lusitanity' and, finally, to identify this look that seems to us nuanced by historical culture. Thus, we will go through the report prepared by Dean Maximino Correia, professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Coimbra institution, following his organization, however, selecting information.