Identity, Whiteness, and Modernity in Barbara Weinstein’s Work

Abstract

Barbara Weinstein, in A cor da modernidade: a branquitude e a formação da identidade paulista, discusses historical processes through which an imagined identity of São Paulo was formed. In doing so, Weinstein underscores two major events: the 1932 Rebellion, often alluded to as a “revolution” in the local historiography, as well as the celebrations of the city’s 400th anniversary. The book dialogues with major Brazilian works, both in terms of the historiography of the state, as well as other region-crafting cases. The author highlights the relevance of European immigration-based imaginaries, which sought to differentiate the state from “less developed” areas of Brazil and from neighboring Rio de Janeiro. Going back to revisionist perspectives that reshaped the Bandeirantes not as exploiters of people and the hinterland, but rather as avid settlers who would’ve made longlasting contributions to the state, Weinstein traces back these imaginaries to periods that preceded the capital’s consolidation as the country’s economic powerhouse. As one would expect from a rigorous historical work, Weinstein also underscores difficult and intriguing themes such as the participation of Black soliders in the 1932 events, as well as the role of women at the time.