Between Brazil and Bahia: Celebrating Dois de Julho in Nineteenth-Century Salvador

In: Journal of Latin American studies, Volume 31, Issue 2, p. 255-286

Abstract

Commemorating the expulsion of Portuguese troops from Salvador,
Bahia, on 2 July 1823, the Dois de Julho festival represented Bahian society
collectively and marked differences of national origin, class, and race. It
challenged the Brazilian state's official patriotism by articulating a regional
identity, and through its commemoration of the independence-era popular
mobilisation, presented a story of Brazil's origins that contradicted the official
patriotism which celebrated Emperor Pedro I as Brazil's founder. Dois de Julho's
popularity and durability, moreover, suggest a significant and socially-broad
engagement with the imperial state, which cannot be considered a remote and
alien entity to the urban population.