Invention of the Brazilian Northeast

Durval Muniz de Albuquerque Jr. is Professor of Brazilian History at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. An award-winning author, he is considered one of Brazil's leading historians.James N. Green is Professor of Brazilian History and Culture at Brown University. He is the author of We Cannot Remain Silent: Opposition to the Brazilian Military Dictatorship in the United States, also published by Duke University Press.Jerry Dennis Metz, translator and independent scholar, has a Ph.D. in Latin American History from the University of Maryland, College Park.

• Foreword / James Green ixAcknowledgments xiiiIntroduction 11. Geography in Ruins 14The Regionalist Gaze 15The New Regionalism 21Regionalist Literature 25North versus South 292. Spaces of Nostalgia 36Stories of Tradition 36The Invention of the Northeast 44Northeastern Pages 74Northeastern Brush Strokes 109Northeastern Music 114Northeastern Dramas 1243. Territories of Revolt 131The Inversion of the Northeast 131Controversy and Indignation 151Portraits of Misery and Pain 176Images That Cut and Pierce 184Seeing through the Camera Eye 192Conclusion 220Notes 233Bibliography 255Index 269

"Originally published in 1999 in Portuguese, Durval Muniz de Albuquerque Jr.’s excellent book will now find a much expanded, English-speaking audience and should inform another wave of scholarship.... Albuquerque straddles disciplines, with his exploration of prose, theater, cinema, and television. Fifteen years past its original publication, the book dialogues in productive ways with a newly energized field; the growing focus on spatial history should produce an interested group of readers who may take away different lessons than the book’s initial audience. Albuquerque in some ways anticipated the recent attention to space and place."  - Thomas D. Rogers (Hispanic American Historical Review) "The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast . . . is an enthralling book that will give the reader a clearer understanding of Brazilian culture." - Diego A. Godoy (Not Even Past) "Albuquerque's The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast is a masterpiece for both the originality of its thesis, and for its virtuosic readings of Brazilian art and literature." - Aaron Ansell (EIAL) "Albuquerque’s book prompts us not only to examine the origins and consequences of discourses of Northeastern regionalism. His work, exemplary in its theoretical underpinnings and methodological rigour, is a model for discourse-centred analysis of any historical subject." - Seth Garfield (Canadian Journal of History) "The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast is a comprehensive and sensitive unmasking of the ways in which well-meaning intellectuals became trapped in tedious reiteration of the stereotypes that 'invented' the Brazilian Northeast as a sociocultural region from 1919 to 1969.... Albuquerque’s readings are swift, allusive, and delicate.... Albuquerque’s intellectual history of region is so fine and rich that we want it to cover more territory." - Dain Borges (American Historical Review) “The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast is a soulful scholarly work.” - Brodwyn Fischer (Latin American Research Review)