The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast

"In this modern classic of Brazilian cultural history, Durval Muniz de Albuquerque Jr. provides a richly documented and theoretically illuminating exploration of how the most 'regional' of all Brazilian regions has been imagined, indeed 'invented,' as a space of alterity, poverty, and authenticity during the past century.  In doing so, he reveals the discursive production of regions, the relations of power that produce them, and the stereotypes that make them recognizable to a national audience." - Christopher Dunn, coeditor of Brazilian Popular Music and Citizenship

"In this brilliant and innovative study of Brazilian regionalism, Durval Muniz de Albuquerque Jr. traces the surprisingly recent invention of the Northeast as a putatively homogeneous space with particular socio-cultural traits. By exploring various sites of political, literary, and intellectual contention and representation, Albuquerque illuminates the process by which the poor and predominantly rural Nordeste emerged both as the internecine 'other' of the rapidly urbanizing South, and as a means for northern elites to maintain access to national resources and political influence. The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast is an outstanding example of the way in which historical research and interpretation can denaturalize even the most 'natural' categories and boundaries, and allow us new insights into inequalities of wealth and power."
- Barbara Weinstein, New York University

"Originally published in 1999 in Portuguese, Durval Muniz de Albuquerque Jr.’s excellent book will now find a much expanded, English-speaking audience and should inform another wave of scholarship.... Albuquerque straddles disciplines, with his exploration of prose, theater, cinema, and television. Fifteen years past its original publication, the book dialogues in productive ways with a newly energized field; the growing focus on spatial history should produce an interested group of readers who may take away different lessons than the book’s initial audience. Albuquerque in some ways anticipated the recent attention to space and place."  - Thomas D. Rogers, Hispanic American Historical Review

"The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast . . . is an enthralling book that will give the reader a clearer understanding of Brazilian culture." - Diego A. Godoy, Not Even Past

"Albuquerque's The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast is a masterpiece for both the originality of its thesis, and for its virtuosic readings of Brazilian art and literature." - Aaron Ansell, EIAL

"Albuquerque’s book prompts us not only to examine the origins and consequences of discourses of Northeastern regionalism. His work, exemplary in its theoretical underpinnings and methodological rigour, is a model for discourse-centred analysis of any historical subject." - Seth Garfield, Canadian Journal of History

"The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast is a comprehensive and sensitive unmasking of the ways in which well-meaning intellectuals became trapped in tedious reiteration of the stereotypes that 'invented' the Brazilian Northeast as a sociocultural region from 1919 to 1969.... Albuquerque’s readings are swift, allusive, and delicate.... Albuquerque’s intellectual history of region is so fine and rich that we want it to cover more territory." - Dain Borges, American Historical Review

“The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast is a soulful scholarly work.” - Brodwyn Fischer, Latin American Research Review