As populações nativas sob a luz da modernidade: a proteção fraterna no Rio Grande do Sul (1908-1928)

Abstract

The present work aims at investigating the role given to the native population in the discourse built from notions of modernity by the elite from Rio Grande do Sul, as well as the practices that were made real based on such discourse during the period between 1908 and 1928. The main point is the concept known as “Proteção Fraterna”. The “Diretoria de Terras e Colonização”, pervaded by Comte’s ideas, was responsible for organizing a project of civilization for the native peoples having as a starting point the process of modernization in course in that state, which had been established by the “PRR” (“Partido Republicano Rio-Grandense”). The “DTC” tried to undertake the process through a number of agents: the countryside people, the roads and the native population. The “Proteção Fraterna” for the natives was put into action in the state facing a national context that had set a new kind of orientation for dealing with the aboriginal population. This new orientation was represented by the creation of the “Serviço