Idealized triumphal trajectories: Hermann Blumenau and the founding myth of the Blumenau Colony in southern Brazil

Abstract

By discussing the idealization of the Blumenau Colony in the historiography of immigration in Brazil, I question the legitimacy of an official historical memory, supported by great characters, with the aim of deconstructing heroic myths in the history of immigration in the Itajaí Valley. The article analyzes the relationship between immigration and slavery, connecting the conceptions of Hermann Blumenau as a traveler and an agent of German colonization. The research methodology dialogues with elements of micro-history, with the analysis of local peculiarities to highlight the differences between the particular (Itajaí Valley) and the general (Brazil) in studies on trajectories and immigration in Brazil, through a refusal of parameters and descriptions imprisoned in the coherence of ideas and perceptions. The emphasis is on the study of divergences and conflicts in everyday immigration, in order to avoid mere reductionism to simple opposition schemes and highlight the interrelationship between Hermann Blumenau and the multiple social determinations of the composition of reality in his work.