Abstract
This review presents a critical analysis of the bookSobre o autoritarismo brasileiro (On Brazilian authoritarianism), by anthropologist and historian Lilia Schwarcz, which seeks to make a multidimensional interpretation of national authoritarianism. By presenting the main arguments in the book, I argue that the author constructs an interpretation that does not break with traditional images of Brazil, but rather reproduces an idealized perspective of the democratic system, following the methodological nationalism, what leads her to emphasize some supposed particularities of the Brazilian case. Thus, Schwarcz’s work contributes to crystallize the subordinate position of Brazil within the geopolitics of knowledge in global modernity.
Keywords:
authoritarianism; methodological nationalism; geopolitics of knowledge