The city (re)signified

The ideology of modernization in Cuiabá after the division of Mato Grosso

Abstract

This article is a partial result of my project of Masters Degree, which analyses the discourses of modernization produced about the city of Cuiaba, capital of Mato Grosso, in the context of post -division of the State in 1977, by the different spaces of public opinion formation: government press, academia and associations. With the division of the State of Mato Grosso and the dismemberment of the Southern part of its territory in 1979, Cuiaba was faced with a big challenge: finding its vocation. The goal at that time was to find ways to get out of "stagnation," the "backwardness" and "isolation" that seemed to live in Mato Grosso and in its capital. If before the division of the State, in order to maintain their condition in Cuiaba capital, after this phase the challenge was to transform the city from a colonial past to a "new capital", modern and worthy of representing a "new State". But to use this ideal and make modifications in the materiality of the city, it would be necessary to construct a discourse linked to a political and intellectual elite, one of strong ideological purpose, that was able to produce in people a need, which, turned into desire, would be confused with a social interest, leading them to action. Starting from Terry Eagleton’s proposals, especially in The ideology of aesthetics, this paper aims at analyzing the discourses and the ideology of modernization present in the city of Cuiaba in the post-division of the State of Mato Grosso, through two commemorative magaz ines of the anniversary of Cuiaba, Cuiaba 259 , from 1978 (before the division of the state) and Cuiaba 260: beginning, middle or end?, from 1979 (after the division), which origin was linked to the concept of culture. We conclude by noting that in the late 1980’s, a speech of preservation and "rescue" of “cuiabana identity” was apropriated by artists, intellectuals guaranteed by the State of Mato Grosso and the municipality. It can be noted an attempt of appropriation of popular culture of Mato Grosso by an elite, giving a characteristic to this as “modern culture ”, but without losing the purpose of tradition, especially in the field of fine arts. From this point on, a way of “being” cuiabano will be distributed and consumed in various forms and materials, a s goods of consume and with the idea of regional culture.