Gilberto Freyre, identidade nacional e Latinoamericanidade

The main aim of this essay is to present a set of reflections on Gilberto Freyre, highlighting his ideas on national identity and Latin Americanness. What connections may we establish between his work Casa-Grande & Senzala [The Masters and the Slaves] (1933) and various issues which remain relevant to the current Latin American political debate? First, we locate Freyre’s thoughts within the Latin American debate on issues around national identity. We then move on to proposing several theoretical reflections and methodologies that we consider key to the debate on the theme of our work, namely: Gilberto Freyre’s political thought and his strategies for Brazil; the author’s studies abroad (in the US and in Europe) and the epistemological repercussions in Casa-Grande & Senzala; Freyre’s own brand of romantic conservatism and Brazilian politics; and the relations between ethos and pathos in the implicit political pact in Freyre’s work. Finally, we provide a summary of Freyre’s debate on Americanness (at the onset of the 1940s) and his political agenda for Latin America.