Between weapons and letters

imperialism and nation in the Euclides da Cunha’s work

Abstract

Euclides da Cunha questioned the boundaries between civilization and barbarism, revealing how the so-called civilized society could be barbaric. However, the Euclidean analysis cannot detach itself from positions dictated by “civilization”, which, based on “scientific” foundations, justified imperialist advances. Such orientation is largely due to the writer's training, who, at the Military School, had contact with this scientism and with a sense of “commitment to the nation”.