Indigenism, immigration, and racialism: the O Cenáculo case (1896)

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the social role a group of writers from Parana assigned to indigenous people. By analyzing O Cenáculo, the magazine from Parana, it was possible to infer that indigenous people would be the ones who would guarantee the Brazilian people’s ethnic integrity. Threaded in that discussion, it’s noticeable the effort O Cenáculo’s writers put into comprehending the Brazilian people’s constitution and identity compared to other world populations. We understand the mentioned writers are “linguistic actors,” an expression used by John Pocock (2003) to refer to those that turn a time’s language into an instrument, articulating it in a way it defends interests and expresses ideas and values. Such writers defended miscegenation and civilizing practices for the indigenous people, acting simultaneously as actors and witnesses of their context.