In Roots of Brazilian Conservatism, Juremir Machado da Silva points to ways to elucidate why Brazil is a country in debt to its own history.
Based on an analysis of political and journalistic discourses from the early 19th century, the author identifies conservative foundations that permeated the context of the signing of the Lei Áurea (Golden Law) and upon which the Brazilian Republic was built a year and a half later.
Aware that freedom was not a concession, but a hard-won achievement for black people, the author demonstrates how the structure of commercial slave capitalism translated – and still resonates today – into intricate legislation, designed to serve specific interests, and into a cultural and ideological imaginary, constructed to justify the maintenance of privileges – even if this implied, at the time, the dehumanization and objectification of people.
In a lively text, the author reveals the origins of conservatism and the history of the quest for social equality in Brazil. The subtle irony that accompanies the text, if it doesn't lighten the topic, functions as a mechanism that helps the reader endure the shock of seeing the genesis of the hypocrisy that still sustains relations of domination between classes and races.
An essential book not only for people interested in history, sociology, and discourse analysis, but also for those who wish to live in a better country, where slavery has truly been abolished for everyone.
