Taking the autobiography of Emiliano di cavalcanti as its source, the article examines the construction of his social identity and a particular kind of Brazilian- ness. It reflects on the specific process in which national identity is used by a social actor as a strategy for joining a group, taking into account the distinct power relations established within the latter. the voice of biographical discourse, the context and the readers being addressed provide the means for us to comprehend the social conditions in which the discourse is produced. cavalcanti manipulates a social identity through the recourse to symbols that, despite no longer being prestigious, helped situate him in opposition to the concept of art for art’s sake implicit to disputes within the field at the time.
Modern Art; Identity; Memory; Race; Miscegenation; Immigration