The Transnational Production of the National Memory

ABSTRACT

Since the second half of the twentieth century, the understanding that national symbols are the result of complex processes of invention has emerged. In Brazil, the intellectuals of the early twentieth century are seen as the main forging authority of national symbols. The work of these intellectuals, however, takes place in a context in which the nation-state has the monopoly of the meaning of national identity and the nation is produced internally within the national space. In this paper, we investigate the changes in the nation’s symbolic production in a situation of globalization. We will demonstrate that: a) the nation’s production shifts from the national space, giving rise to a globalized national memory; b) this memory has in the cultural industries and consumer culture a new and primordial means of propagation; c) transnational agents specialists in the nation’s symbolic production emerge, who challenge the position formerly occupied by traditional intellectuals.

national memory; globalization; intellectuals; cultural industries; consumer culture