Representations of Southern Brazil in the writings of German intellectuals (1896-1914)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the discussions in Germany about the German colonies in the South of Brazil and the German e/immigrants abroad in the period between 1890 and 1914/1918. The main thread is the writings of the network of Americanist intellectuals linked to Dr. Hermann Meyer, from Leipzig, Germany, an intellectual, publisher and owner of a colonizing company. This is a study of immigration, from the perspective of transoceanic migratory movements, in dialogue with microhistory and intellectual history. As a cutout, it approaches the migratory context of the late nineteenth century; the look of German intellectuals to/about Brazil; and, in a reduced scale, the writings of the intellectual Dr. Ernst Kapff and his defense of the South-South e/immigration. Therefore, the study contributes to understand what was known, written and discussed about the German emigration to Southern Brazil and its colonies, from the position of subjects and institutions active in Germany.