Memories from the land of amnesty: Historical narratives of the armed right in Brazil
Date
2025
Authors
Santana Bertho, Ana Paula
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Abstract
In 2018, Brazilians elected the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro, a retired military captain, as President. His open praise of the military dictatorship (1964–1985) and the support it received among civilians called into question the hegemony of victim-centered memories about that period. This thesis dialogues with this context and aims to investigate the role of the armed right memories in contemporary Brazilian democracy, focusing on how these narratives have shaped public discourse and national identity. Drawing on Ksenija Bilbija and Leigh A.Payne’s concept of “memory market,” the study analyzes two memory products: the commemorations of March 31st (chosen by the military as the date of the military coup d'état of 1964) between 2014 and 2022 and the Army’s Historical Museum and Fort Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro. Based on the examination of newspaper coverage, government documents, interviews, and exhibitions, this study argues that the military has sought to refashion its role in the new democracy, reaffirming its authoritarian saviour role while attempting to engage with the era of human rights speech. The rise of “uncivil groups” after 2013 empowered the authoritarian nostalgia in the public sphere, mobilizing symbols of the past to justify authoritarian projects in the present. Bolsonaro emerged as a spokesperson for these actors. His government represented the institutionalization of the right armed narratives, paradoxically generating tensions with some military sectors while instrumentalizing these memories as fuel for the storming of Brasília in January 2023.
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Keywords
Brazil, Military memories, Jair Bolsonaro, March 31st, Military dictatorship, Army’s Historical Museum and Fort Copacabana, Museu Histórico do Exército e Forte Copacabana