Creole Orientalism. D. Pedro II and Brazil in the Second Empire

Abstract

This article aims at discussing the mechanisms which determined the integration of Imperial Brazil into the Orientalism movement, which was in vogue in Europe in the nineteenth Century. We focus on D. Pedro II, who was a pioneer in the study and translation of oriental languages in Brazil. From D. Pedro II’s diaries, which constitute a rich source of historical documentation, we attempt to discover the characteristics of the "Creole Orientalism" as the result of the dialogue between the Iberian colonial legacy and the scientific Orientalism developed by European intellectuals at the end of the nineteenth century. From the perspective of Latin American studies we intend to contribute to the critical debate that Orientalism, by Edward W. Said, has fostered since its publication in 1978.