An inverted mirror of the Republic: the correspondence of the French diplomats in Brazil as historical object (1892-1910)

Abstract

This article presents a part of the results of the research project on the diplomatic correspondence of the French in Brazil during the First Republic. It is intended to explore a new field in the history of international relations, which are also nourished by the imaginary and social exchanges, by approaching diplomats’ correspondence as a source of research, and as an object of study. I will analyze two elements in the documentation: the controversy involving the authorization of French emigration to Brazil between 1875 and 1908 and the image of the Brazilian political organization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Republic is seen through a mirror inverted and forged by the French ambassadors or consuls, who are also full social actors with objectives, styles of writing, opinions and purposes. The First Brazilian Republic is understood as a construction and a representation that goes beyond national borders.