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The strategies of recomposition and rearticulation of the elites of the German ethnic group in post-Estado Novo Brazil: an analysis in the light of Historical Sociology and Sociology of Elites

Abstract:

This article, based on the theoretical-methodological perspectives of Historical Sociology and Sociology of Elites, aims to analyze the recomposition and rearticulation of the elites of the German ethnic group in Brazil after the Estado Novo (post-1945). The research is based on historical literature review, interviews and document analysis. At first, I analyze the Estado Novo and nationalization campaigns as an “event”, responsible for producing changes and transformations in the practices associated with “Germanness” in Brazil. In the following, I present some of the initiatives of rearticulation of the elites of the German ethnic group in post-Estado Novo Brazil: the Comitê de Socorro à Europa Faminta, the restructuring of the Lutheran Church, the rearticulation of 25th of July Movement, the foundation of 25th of July Cultural Centers and the Federation of 25th of July Cultural Centers. Finally, I analyze the “outcome” of this historical process, that is, the systematization and institutionalization of a “space of practices of ‘German’ folklore in Brazil”, in the 1980s. The discussion made it possible to establish a causal relationship between the nationalization campaigns and the initiatives of rearticulation of ethnic elites and promotion of German ethnicity in Brazil.

Keywords
Estado Novo; Germanness; Elites; Historical Sociology; Sociology of Elites

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