Identidades rasuradas : o caso da comunidade afro-descendente de Santa Cruz do Sul (1970-2000).

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing how the so-called German identity narrative has been worked out by the afro-descendants in Santa Cruz do Sul, a city situated in the center of Rio Grande do Sul, with a strong identification with germanism. Backed on analysis of the regional historiography, the written press and questionnaires consisting of semi-structured points, the implications of that kind of discourse on social ambient of existence for afro-descendants communities in this municipality are brought up to discussion. The study has been restricted to three decades (1970-2000) because this period comprises the international economic growth of the tobacco business along with the reinforcement of this ethnic discourse after a period of severe restriction of ethnical or racial demonstrations, during World War II. This work has been divided into three chapters where the first one a historical panorama of Santa Cruz do Sul, focuses the cultural variety and, at the same time, a questioning in raised about the legitimation of that identity narrative in the regional historiography thus orchestrating the sense of belonging to one or another social or ethnic group within the community. The second chapter deals with the role of the written press, namely on bringing about social and ethnic stereotypies while maintaining and even spreading the communitary discourse. In chapter three, an attempt is made at analyzing the impact of that regional identity narrative on the social ambients and its cultural interference with the lives of the afro-descendants as well as their organizational strategies to assure their identity. The conclusion of this research is that the homogenizing German-identity narrative in Santa Cruz do Sul has dad a direct impact on the afro-descendants´ lives, their beliefs and behaviors.