In The Color of Modernity, Barbara Weinstein focuses on race, gender, and regionalism in the formation of national identities in Brazil; this focus allows her to explore how uneven patterns of economic development are consolidated and understood. Organized around two principal episodes-the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution and 1954's IV Centenário, the quadricentennial of São Paulo's founding-this book shows how both elites and popular sectors in São Paulo embraced a regional identity that emphasized their European origins and aptitude for modernity and progress, attributes that became-and remain-associated with "whiteness." This racialized regionalism naturalized and reproduced regional inequalities, as São Paulo became synonymous with prosperity while Brazil's Northeast, a region plagued by drought and poverty, came to represent backwardness and São Paulo's racial "Other." This view of regional difference, Weinstein argues, led to development policies that exacerbated these inequalities and impeded democratization.

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1. Paulista Modern  27

Part I: The War of São Paulo

2. Constituting Paulista Identity  71

3. The Middle Class in Arms? Fighting for São Paulo  110

4. Marianne into Battle? The Mulher Paulista and the Revolution of 1932  161

5. Provincializing São Paulo: The "Other" Regions Strike Back  192

Part II: Commemorating São Paulo

6. São Paulo Triumphant  221

7. Exhibiting Exceptionalism: History at the IV Centenário  267

8. The White Album: Memory, Identity, and the 1932 Uprising  296

Epilogue and Conclusion  331

Notes   345

Bibliography  419

Index  445