The Latin American roots of Sérgio Buarque de Holanda: uruguayan urban authoritarian leadership as a solution for the cordial man

Abstract

Based on recent studies of the forgotten theses of the first edition of Raízes do Brasil (1936), this article’s objective is to understand the influences of the type of state suggested for Brazil in this classic work. One influence is that of Uruguayan Batllismo of the early twentieth century, and the second one is that of Emperor Pedro II, an admiration that appears in Sérgio Buarque de Holanda’s youthful writings prior to that date. Both lines of thinking had moral legitimacy among divergent political factions, and exercised charismatic (personal) authority, while simultaneously presenting themselves as defenders of the Enlightenment. Although Pedro II carried the “burden” of ruralism, he was a great promoter of the sciences and arts in the nineteenth century. Meanwhile, José Batlle y Ordoñez was a caudillo who managed to unite blancos and colorados in Uruguay to create the most progressive constitution of the time and for years to come. As prominent authorities who drove their respective nations forward, they appear to Holanda as the best examples to inspire the leaders of countries whose identity is that of cordiality. In the first edition of Raízes do Brasil, this cordiality is not an evil to be expelled, but the psychological structure that organically sustained the Brazilian state and institutions.