Otherness in dispute: Representations of Brazil by Richard Francis Burton.

• Grant number: 24/17679-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Maria Helena Pereira Toledo Machado
• Grantee: Helder Monteiro Pelegrino
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/05723-8 - Otherness in dispute: Representations of Brazil by Richard Francis Burton., BE.EP.IC

Abstract

This research's object of analysis is the travel writing "the Highlands Of The Brazil" written by Richard Francis Burton. The author was an explorer from the Victorian period who acquired fame inside the British scientific societies for his travels in the Middle East and Africa throughout the 1850s and 1860s. However, he encountered frequent controversies, for he expressed opinions contrary to humanitarianism, which was the dominant position inside these organizations. Beginning in 1865, the author exercised the position of consul in Brazil, through which he established amicable links with the court and the emperor, in part because of his pro-slavery visions. In 1867, our controversial subject embarked in an expedition through Minas Gerais and the São Francisco River, resulting in the book in question, published in 1869. His writing presented an alternative project of British action in Brazil, and his geographical and ethnological descriptions seek to support his conservative imperial proposal. In this context, this research purports to comprehend how his representations of slave-owning Brazil affects and is affected by the conflicts of the period.