Bolsonaro and the Memory of Dictatorship in Brazil

Realms of Memory

In 1964 the military seized power in Brazil and ruled the country for the next 21 years. During this period the military used censorship, torture, and murder to silence its critics and maintain its grip on power. How did Jair Bolsonaro use the memory of this past to catapult himself to the presidency? How did Bolsonaro’s manipulation of the memory of dictatorship have catastrophic consequences for Brazil during the Covid-19 pandemic? For answers to these questions and more, listen to the November 7th episode of the Realms of Memory featuring deputy editor Leda Balbino, from Brazil’s O Globo newspaper. We’ll be discussing her recent book Digital Memory in Brazil: A Fragmented and Elastic Negationist Remembrance of the Dictatorship.