The Overvaluation of Portuguese Influence on Formation of Brazilian Society

This critical discussion of Maria Cristina’s article on Sérgio Buarque de Holanda’s Raízes do Brasil offers a close reading of both the original and revised editions of Holanda’s influential essay, arguing that its account of Brazilian social formation depends on a determinist and organicist overvaluation of Portuguese influence. Although Holanda recognizes African and Indigenous participation, he assigns them a secondary, reinforcing role while treating the Portuguese colonizer as the primary agent shaping Brazilian identity. This approach, the article contends, obscures the sociohistorical construction of identity and marginalizes non-European actors, exposing persistent tensions between sociological method and essentialist reasoning in a foundational text. Maria Cristina de Souza has a masters and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and a masters in Latin American Studies from the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. She taught at Brazilian universities for over 10 years. She was a visiting scholar at Boston University and at Columbia University. Currently, she is a member of the Dean Advisory Board of Pardee School at Boston University. She has published articles and books throughout her academic career. Her research interests include Latin American history and philosophy of culture.