Up-Tight About Ruy: An Essay on Brazilian Cultural Nationalism and Mythology

In: Journal of Interamerican studies and world affairs, Volume 15, Issue 2, p. 191-204

Abstract

Ruy Barbosa, the Brazilian lawyer and legal scholar, statesman, educational reformer, journalist, politician, and spokesman for a liberal tradition, is again in the news. Lionized during a career which spanned the late Empire and early Republic, deified as a cultural monument since his death in 1923, Ruy and his once secure historical reputation are now under assault. That Barbosa could be criticized at all is shocking, especially to an older generation for whom the repeated homage to his memory in countless books, in the press, and on the hustings formed a cultural constant in their youth and helped to set their world view. For others, mostly younger Brazilians, the image of a remote, rather pedantic, and above all irrelevant Ruy has been redrawn, if not refurbished, in light of a new historical perspective.