COMP. SIMAI, SZILVIA; HOOK, DEREK
The emerging field of psychosocial studies signifies a confluence of disciplines for whom the fantasies, repressions and cultural practices underlying national identity represents a crucial research focus. This book presents a psychosocial portrayal of Brazil?s arrival on the international stage in the economic boom of the run-up to its hosting of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. This former Portuguese colony is a country of contradictions in need of a new image; a nation that needs to be able to both love and sell itself in today?s neo-liberal reality. It argues that a contemporary representation of Brazilian subjectivity is best enabled through an interdisciplinary perspective. Five key themes ? to be explored in all their contradictions and ambivalence ? structure the book: fantasies of the nation; xenophobia and denial; Brazilian cultural practice; transnational mobility; and gender, race and Brazilian identity.
