BELOW, ASIDE, IN THE PAST: INDIGENOUS REPRESENTATIONS BY SÃO PAULO’S ELITE, FROM 18 ^TH TO 20 ^TH CENTURIES

Abstract

São Paulo’s newspapers from the quadricentennial of the city’s foundation, containing papers, poetry, iconographies, and advertising, allows one to apprehend the culmination of a long-term process of development, transformation, and appropriation of the imagery created since the Portuguese America, founded on the relations between settlers, indigenous groups, and the territory. The bravery and heroism of “sertanistas”, the nobility of “paulistas”, and the discipline of the “agricultores” (farmers) are the basis for the suitable representations created by historians and São Paulo’s elite in the 20^th century, parallel to the state’s newly acquired political and economic centrality, consolidating the obliteration of the indigenous population, that go from indispensable allies and even relatives to troublesome second-class citizens from an exhausted past.

Keywords
São Paulo (city); Indigenous; Paulistas; Representations; Imaginary