ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between political institutions and cultural hegemony by focusing on the third phase of forging a national identity: institutionalization. Getulio Vargas is undoubtedly the most prominent figure of twentieth-century Brazilian politics. The chapter shows that Vargas new cultural hegemony, aided by the nationalist-minded modernists helped to create a climate of patriotic zeal which called for the representation of positive national values and order in the social realm. His populist stand prohibited the emergence of an effective challenge to the white middle class’s cultural identity and its political, economic and cultural values. Messianic conceptualization of nationhood assured Brazilians that they needed a savior, and once imagined, the Vargas regime instituted itself through law and rhetoric as such. The Constitution, the sacred text of the republic provided both a framework for citizen participation and a vision of the nation’s ethos.
