Museums and places of memory – representations of Brazil by the Paraguayan War

Abstract

This article aims to present the analyzes and results obtained from the development of two researches whose common objective was to know, from the theme of the Paraguayan War, how Brazil and Brazilians are being represented in museums and places of memory in the Paraguay and Uruguay. From the theoretical perspective of Serge Moscovici, Theory of Social Representations, the following chosen institutions for the studies were analyzed: the National Pantheon of Heroes and the Institute of History and Military Museum, located in the city of Asunción, Paraguay, and the National Historical Museum of Uruguay and the Cabildo Historical Museum of Montevideo, both located in the Uruguayan capital. The methodology used was the content analysis, of the exhibitions through field visits and of the information and data collected, combined with a review of the literature about the subject. From the results found, Paraguay stands out with a very strong social representation of valorization and exaltation of the heroes who fought and gave their lives for their country during the conflict. In Uruguay, it was verified that the War is understood as an episode of the history of the country whose social representation is marked by certain negativity and regret for participate in the conflict. In a common parallel, Brazil is blamed for the events, a matter that was observed especially between the lines and absences of the speeches in which the social representations are manifested.