Gilberto Freyre Casa Grande Senzala
Gilberto Freyre’s Casa Grande & Senzala (1933) has been described as one of Brazil’s ‘founding fictions’. Discuss this concept paying particular attention to questions of race and to the impact of the book on Brazilian culture and society.
When interpreting a work that is deemed a ‘founding fiction’, it is crucial to examine the social environments in which the given work was constructed as well as the author’s predecessors and external influences. When studying Gilberto Freyre’s Casa Grande & Senzala, it is of the utmost importance to consider figures from both Brazil, such as José de Alencar, and Europe, such as Frederick Nietzsche, who contributed to the ideas and philosophies that are manifested in his pioneering work. In order to comprehend the severity of the impact this text had, as well as the motivation behind the author, it is necessary to examine the other ‘founding fictions’ of the nation, the social environment in which it emerged and the effect it had on the both the Brazilian and the international readers of the 20th century.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ambiguous question of what their national origin constituted was prominent amongst Brazilian intellectuals. The official abolition of slavery in 1888 and the subsequent rise in numbers of Brazilian citizens of African descent can be seen to have caused the emergence of a necessary reconsideration of Brazilian identity and origins. Before the publication of Casa Grande & Senzala the widely accepted and shared view amongst intellectuals was that the large proportion of African ethnicity in society was both undesirable and detrimental. The concept of ‘branqueamento’1 was brought to the table by many intellectuals as a way of assimilating and eventually eradicating Brazil’s Black population. The main positivist idea that it represented was the attitude that ‘the interaction between race and environment’2 held more answers than the study of the ‘socio-economic conditions that generated
When interpreting a work that is deemed a ‘founding fiction’, it is crucial to examine the social environments in which the given work was constructed as well as the author’s predecessors and external influences. When studying Gilberto Freyre’s Casa Grande & Senzala, it is of the utmost importance to consider figures from both Brazil, such as José de Alencar, and Europe, such as Frederick Nietzsche, who contributed to the ideas and philosophies that are manifested in his pioneering work. In order to comprehend the severity of the impact this text had, as well as the motivation behind the author, it is necessary to examine the other ‘founding fictions’ of the nation, the social environment in which it emerged and the effect it had on the both the Brazilian and the international readers of the 20th century.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ambiguous question of what their national origin constituted was prominent amongst Brazilian intellectuals. The official abolition of slavery in 1888 and the subsequent rise in numbers of Brazilian citizens of African descent can be seen to have caused the emergence of a necessary reconsideration of Brazilian identity and origins. Before the publication of Casa Grande & Senzala the widely accepted and shared view amongst intellectuals was that the large proportion of African ethnicity in society was both undesirable and detrimental. The concept of ‘branqueamento’1 was brought to the table by many intellectuals as a way of assimilating and eventually eradicating Brazil’s Black population. The main positivist idea that it represented was the attitude that ‘the interaction between race and environment’2 held more answers than the study of the ‘socio-economic conditions that generated