Abstract

ALVES, Vera Marques. "The poetry of the simple": popular art and nation in the Estado Novo. Etnográfica [online]. 2007, vol.11, n.1, pp.63-89. ISSN 0873-6561.

In the 1930’ and 1940’ the Secretariado da Propaganda Nacional - the propaganda head office of Salazar’s dictatorship - promoted several folkloristic events, which became a core element of the Estado Novo current memory. This paper shows how the Secretariado‘s ethnographic campaign relates mostly with the politics of national identity building developed inside the Portuguese borders and in the international arena. In this context, I examine the selective approach to the folk culture materials evolved in those pratics. I also try to illuminate the ways by witch such materials were used to create a representation of the Portuguese folk as a people of artist-peasants, and of Portugal as a pacific and lovable country.

Keywords : Estado Novo; SPN/SNI; António Ferro; folk art; nation; artist-peasant.

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