Between "sub-imperialism" and "friendship": culture in the historiography of Brazil-Paraguay relations

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyse the historiography on Brazil-Paraguay relations, especially in the cultural sphere, indicating permanences and ruptures around the subject. Although there is a primacy of the political and economic, guided by the disparities between the two countries, there are important changes underway. The search for actors other than national states – such as artists and migrants – shows that Brazil-Paraguay relations are more complex and heterogeneous than the political and economic primacy suggests. Furthermore, variations in the spatial and temporal contexts – including border regions and the period before relations between the two countries deepened in the 1950s – indicate that there are processes that cannot be reduced to Brazilian interests in Paraguay. Based on authors such as José D’Assunção Barros and Michel de Certeau, we analysed historiography as a historical source and object, as it provides diverse information, representations of itself and other actors and accompanies the historicity of Brazil-Paraguay relations.