Religion and day-to-day life in XIXth century. The case of the Confederate immigrants in Brazil

Abstract

The study summarizes and analyzes the descriptions and valuations of the day-to-day life in the Brazilian society, communicated by Confederate immigrants that arrived to Brazil after their defeat in the American Civil War at the middle of XIXth century, based on their religious faith. For that purpose, a lecture of the reports and diaries written by the immigrants themselves and their descendents, as well as other vestiges obtained through secundary sources about personal letters and press articles sent by the immigrants to their families and newspapers, were also used. In order to try a semiotic interpretation of these narratives in the context of their historic times, some reports written by foreign traveleres in Brazil at that time, and also Brazilian and Southerner studies with special emphasis in day-to-day life and national identity, were also consulted. The conclusion of the present study is that religious faith of the Confederate immigrants was an important issue when they described and valuated Brazilian day-to-day life, and still is a relevant key to understand cultural Southern identity at present.