Emigration and Failed Colonial Discourses. "Germanness" in Southern Brazil (1824-1941)

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Frederik Schulze
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2016 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 298062278

Using perspectives of Global History and Postcolonial Studies, this study analyzes the tension between discourses on 'German' immigration to Rio Grande do Sul / Brazil and the everyday reality of the immigrants on the ground. While German and Brazilian discourses and German practices for the preservation of 'Germanness' through schools and churches assumed a homogeneous 'German' group in Southern Brazil (as does a huge part of historiography until today), the local situation was much more diverse and contradictory. The discourses were part of wider German colonial discourses which were circulating on a global scale and had global aspirations. They were broadcasted to Rio Grande do Sul by a worldwide acting network of actors, institutions and authorities and could be found also in a similar form in other regions. In Southern Brazil, the colonial discourses were challenged by Brazilian criticism, appropriation by the German-speaking elites, heterogeneity, acculturation and resistance by the immigrants as well as deficiencies of the ecclesiastical and educational efforts. Partly in a disorganized way, partly with global known strategies as supposed threats and the 'Brazilianization' of the colonists, the discourses tried to maintain the discursive order. In a constant process of negotiation, they were altered and, therefore, often broke down because of divergent realities which could not be described adequately with the topos of the 'German immigrant in Brazil'.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants