The Optic of the State: Visuality and Power in Argentina and Brazil
The Optic of the State traces the production of nationalist imaginaries through the public visual representation of modern state formation in Brazil and Argentina. As Jens Andermann reveals, the foundational visions of national heritage, territory, and social and ethnic composition were conceived and implemented, but also disputed and contested, in a complex interplay between government, cultural, and scientific institutions and actors, as a means of propagating political agendas and power...
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Traces the production of nationalist imaginaries through the public visual representation of modern state formation in Brazil and Argentina. The purpose of these imaginaries was to vindicate political upheavals and secure the viability of the newly independent states through a sense of historic destiny and inevitable evolution. The visions of national heritage, territory, and social and ethnic composition were conceived in a complex interplay between government, cultural and scientific institutions, as a means of propagating political agendas and power throughout the emerging states.
List of Illustrations ixAcknowledgments xiiiIntroduction 1Museums 11Empires of Nature: Museums, Science, and the Politics of Being 23Spectacles of Sacrifice: Inside the Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition 58Antiques and Archives: Finding a Home for History 86Maps 119Into the Heart of the State: The Planalto Expedition 133An Essay in Segmentarity: The Desert Campaign 160Disappearing Acts: Photography and Primitive Accumulation 185Conclusion 207Notes 215Bibliography 231Index 247
