A idéia de cultura teuto-brasileira: literatura, identidade e os significados da etnicidade

within the context of german immigration to brazil, texts produced by individuals alert to the cultural realities of teuto-brazilian life began to be produced in the 19th century. this literature thrived until 1939 when the nationalization campaign of getulio vargas' estado novo prohibited the publication of texts written in foreign languages. in this article, i seek to analyze the role played by german language literature produced in brazil - especially poetry - in the construction of a cultural identity which combined the principles of "germanhood" with the realities of colonial life in brazilian territory. the social universe i focus upon is "colony" of blumenau in the itajaí valley in the state of santa catarina. there, an emerging elite, which possessed cultural and economic capital, supported a variety of associative activities, maintained a theater and stimulated literary production and distribution, principally through newspapers and almanacs, in a very peculiar appropriation of the notion of kultur.