The Formation of Souls: Imagery of the Republic in Brazil [Paperback]

InThe Formation of Souls: Imagery of the Republic in Brazil, José Murilo de Carvalho examines the birth of the Brazilian Republic in 1889. Given that the majority of the population of Brazil participated very little in the change from an empire to a republic, what allowed the new government to consolidate its power? As a part of the answer to this question, Carvalho analyzes a collection of republican symbols, images, allegories, and myths of the period as attempts by various republican political elites to shape the collective social imagination. As Carvalho explains, the expansion of popular participation in republican ideals would have been nearly impossible through a purely theoretical, ideological discourse, so it had to be achieved by more universal, accessible means, appealing to collective sentiment through stories and images of heroes and founding fathers, images of women, and national flags and anthems.