A POLÊMICA EM TORNO DA LITERATURA INDIANISTA NO INSTITUTO HISTÓRICO E GEOGRÁFICO BRASILEIRO 1838-1860

Abstract

This article is within the field of historical and cultural studies. Thus, the historical analysis employed here aims at understanding the literary artistic phenomenon, namely the XIX century Romantic Indianism. In this aspect, Indianism is seen as a historical invention, that is, it arises involuntarily within the European thought and within the Romantism aesthetic precepts, which later became the result of writers’ conscientious work and project in order to create both a national culture and literature, having the Indian as its central figure. Thus, the role of the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro (Brazil’s Historical and Geographical Institute - IHGB) is analyzed in this historical invention process. Furthermore, the IHGB was the main stage of a fierce argument on the viability of making literature having the Indian as its central figure, showing the different positions the intellectuals of the period held about the Indianist Literature.