The July 14 and the Cultural Transfers in the Franco-Brazilian Press at the Turn of 20th Century (1859-1922)

Abstract

in 1890, the traditional date of the French National Festival, July 14, was included as a Brazilian holiday after the Proclamation of the Republic in Brazil (1889). The aim of this article is to analyze how the celebrations of the 14th of July, an event symbolizing the values of the Enlightenment and the feeling of Latinity, which had a strong impact on the Américas during the 19th century, was represented in the pages of Franco-Brazilian newspapers between 1859 and 1922. The hypothesis is that this ephemeris was a date of affi rmation for the French colony and became a symbol of its integration into the host country. Contrary to approaches that tend to emphasize France as a model for Brazil, the intention was to map out how cultural interactions and transfers took place between the two nations. As a result, we also noticed the widespread use of French symbols to politically legitimize the values of certain republican groups, which was used to the advantage of the French colony that was trying to establish itself in a nationalist and xenophobic environment