THE BRAZILIAN SCENE: DAVID LOWENTHAL, JOHN DOS PASSOS, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF "SCENE" AND BRAZIL TO GEOGRAPHIC INQUIRY

This paper applies David Lowenthal's 1968 Geographical Review article "The American Scene" and John Dos Passos' 1963 travelogue Brazil on the Move to develop a notion of the Brazilian scene. It argues for the importance of "scene" as a concept in geographic inquiry and the relevance of Brazil to concerns across the discipline. Scene matters to geographers because it provides immense pedagogical value in explaining the character and most important features of a place. As a demographic and socioeconomic "microcosm of the world," Brazil is fertile ground for constructing a theory of scene. Three interrelated concepts are integral to the Brazilian scene: ufanismo (pride in abundance of land and natural resources), a belief in the promise of the future, and movement inward from the Atlantic. A close reading of Brazil on the Move advances the concept of scene beyond the "long succession of idealized images and visual stereotypes" posed by Lowenthal, and toward including visions that better account for issues of contemporary interest.