The Paulista expansion in Afonso de Taunay and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda: reflections and trajectories

Abstract

This article discusses the intellectual and institutional relations of proximity and distance between the historians Afonso de Taunay and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda. Both of them, at different periods of time, dedicated themselves to historiographical production of the paulista expansion in the colonial period. The so-called bandeirismo was one of the most important themes of Brazilian historiography – in particular of the paulista historiography – in the first half of the 20^th century. Taunay interpreted the phenomenon as a chapter of the territory construction and of the Brazilian nationality itself. Sérgio Buarque saw the paulista expansion from the indigenous captivity for the agriculture lands in Piratininga. Despite the theoretical and methodological differences, the relations between the two historians were intense. It is also of interest to this article to observe the institutional context of the historians in question. Both, in different periods of time, were directors of the Paulista Museum and occupied the chair of History of the Brazilian Civilization at the University of São Paulo.