Brazil, A Country Called “The Future”

Abstract

This article proposes an analysis of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig’s look on ethnic and racial relations in his 1941’s book: Brasil, um país do futuro. There are two approaches used to investigate the racial theme in his work. The first, is the celebration of miscegenation as a consequence of ‘peaceful’ interracial relationships. In this racially centered view of the country and in its racial relations, miscegenation is present on social thought, public policies and in Brazilian cultural practices. The second approach, studies how, in contrast to Germany, Zweig suggests Brazil as an alternative to what he calls the 'disease of our times', Nazism and Hitler's racial policy. Here, Brazilian racial ‘harmony’ and miscegenation function as a plausible response to a future ‘civilization’ free from hatred and racism. The narrative of Brasil, um país do futuro helped to build in the social imaginary the concept of a mestizo nation, free from racial prejudice.