In search of a tradition: what traditions to the Brazilian Culture? (original) (raw)

The Brazilian civilization is relatively new in world history. Built on a mix of cultures - Portuguese, Indigenous, African, and other European and Asian people - we can say, not without astonishment, that Brazil still suffers from a cultural identity. The tension that involves the formation of identity emerges in times of social crisis or crisis of moral values, as seen in the current context of the country, undermined by constant allegations of corruption at all levels, by increasing violence, and lacking in a row established policy. So, Brazilian society has appealed to discourses that seek, in the ideologies of the past, an answer to the present problems. These speeches oscillate between the globalization discourse, the rescue of religious traditions, and the resurrection of old policies theories. This condition creates a complex plan to debate political and social questions, whose paradigms do not depart from a critical and cultural consciousness formed, but rather the attempt to assert a vision of what is 'traditional', without having an exact idea of their extent and origins or real influence. In this communication, therefore, our purposes are: to try to understand, through the analysis of Stuart Hall and Zygmunt Bauman, the reasons why the Brazilian society has claim for a 'return to tradition', even if they do not know exactly what is sought in return: and a second moment, map, albeit briefly, what are the cultural matrices involved in this debate, with some recent cases in which the question of tradition has been placed with a response to legal and social situations.