Abstract
This paper aims to show how the discursive matrix of sertanidade, or the national civilization process dilemmas, opened from Os Sertões, written by Euclides da Cunha, finds correspondence in Brazilian policy of nature conservation. The disputes between two environmental conceptions: the conservationism and socioenvironmentalism, shaped along different political, legal and institutional situations, reproduce in the environmental field the dilemmas about the direction of the Brazilian civilizational project. The text makes use of documents and literature on the establishment of nature conservation policies and the debate on national projects in Brazil.
Keywords:
conservatism; liberalism; sociology; moral; methodology