Rouanet

"The European view of the Brazilians was distorted by two myths, both of European origin: that of the noble savage and that of the bad savage." ¹(3)

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claims that European views of native Brazilians were shaped by these two myths² (3-4)

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"Returning to the relationship between Europe and Brazil, we see that the figures of the noble savage and the bad savage have now spread even wider and include Brazilians in general and not just the indigenous people.

What the Europeans had been saying about the noble Indian...is now said about Brazilians: they are a warm-hearted people, full of imagination and human warmth, in contrast to the narrow rationalism of the Europeans.

But from another point of view, the Brazilians are also the bad savages: lazy and corrupt, they murder street children and set fire to forests." ³(6)

o

positive and negative attitudes also characterise Brazilian views of Europeans and North Americans; myth of the noble civilized person and myth of the "bad civilized person."⁴ (6)

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bad savage function to justify European expansion and colonialism; good savage function to critique European institutions ⁵(8)

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Brazilian myth of the noble civilized person occurs where the myth of the bad savage is internalised; myth of the bad civilized person occurs where the myth of the good savage is internalised. ⁶(8-9)

1SP Rouanet, 'The European Vision of the Brazilian', Diogenes 49/1:193 (2002), 3–11, 3.

2SP Rouanet, 'The European Vision of the Brazilian', Diogenes 49/1:193 (2002), 3–11, 3–4.

3SP Rouanet, 'The European Vision of the Brazilian', Diogenes 49/1:193 (2002), 3–11, 6.

4SP Rouanet, 'The European Vision of the Brazilian', Diogenes 49/1:193 (2002), 3–11, 6.

5SP Rouanet, 'The European Vision of the Brazilian', Diogenes 49/1:193 (2002), 3–11, 8.

6SP Rouanet, 'The European Vision of the Brazilian', Diogenes 49/1:193 (2002), 3–11, 8–9.