Creating 'Confederate pioneers': a spatial narrative analysis of race, settler colonialism, and heritage tourism at the Museu da Imigração, Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, São Paulo

Local history museums are important to heritage tourism, often presenting interconnected local, regional, national, and transnational histories. This article explores the settler colonial narrative presented at the Museu da Imigração (Museum of the Immigration), in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, São Pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of heritage tourism Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 20 - 42
Main Author Brasher, Jordan P.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 02.01.2021
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Brazil
Colonialism
Confederacy
Democracy
Immigration
Museums
Settler colonialism
Slavery
Spatial analysis
spatial narrative
Tourism
transnational history
white supremacy
Brazil
United States > US
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Summary:Local history museums are important to heritage tourism, often presenting interconnected local, regional, national, and transnational histories. This article explores the settler colonial narrative presented at the Museu da Imigração (Museum of the Immigration), in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, São Paulo, Brazil. Though much scholarship explores the relationship between the Confederacy and slavery in public memory and heritage tourism studies, the scale of discussion is typically limited to the US South. Less well known is the fact that several thousand Confederate soldiers and their families, rather than face Reconstruction, preferred to restart their lives in Brazil. Applying innovations in discourse analysis and studies of commemorative atmosphere, I analyze a local museum's spatial narrative. I show how it weaves together a settler interpretation of the past through texts, photographs, and historical objects and artifacts - bringing together discourses like the Lost Cause and Brazil's 'racial democracy.' Ultimately the museum constructs a settler colonial narrative that frames the Confederate migrants as brave 'pioneers' striking out to re-create their lives after the US Civil War. I conclude by placing the significance of the museum's narrative into broader context, highlighting how some scholars have perpetuated this narrative in academic and public discourse.
ISSN:1743-873X
1747-6631
DOI:10.1080/1743873X.2020.1768262