As representações espaciais e a geopolítica popular no Brasil: o Atlântico Sul como uma geografia imaginativa

Abstract

Critical geopolitics is a theoretical approach that emerged at the end of the Cold War in the English-speaking world, mainly influenced by discourse and poststructuralist theories. According to this theoretical field, the world begins to be understood as a discursive construction. Therefore, spaces are not taken for granted, but are represented and thus demarcated by social actors. Drawing from a bibliographical review, we noticed a gap regarding research on critical geopolitics, specifically, popular geopolitics – everyday discourses, which includes those of the media and popular culture – in Brazil about the South Atlantic space. Thus, this dissertation contributes to include a Brazilian perspective within the critical geopolitics research agenda. We seek to ask how the armed forces have sought to represent the South Atlantic space since the lauching of the Blue Amazon concept in 2004? In this sense, the main aim of this dissertation is to analyze the representations of popular geopolitical discourse that constitute the South Atlantic between 2004 and 2018. To answer this question, we adopt a methodology based on Fairclough's Discourse Analysis. This approach makes it possible to analyze texts, discursive practices and even social practices. However, we decided to analyze texts from three comic books, focusing on the identification of three analytical topics in the texts: presupposition, predication and metaphor. We also use, in a complementary way, statements from Ministers of Defense, Brazilian defense documents, Brazilian Navy documents, and other sources related to the media and popular culture. Finally, we conclude that the armed forces seek to produce spatial representations through popular geopolitical discourses to promote a conception of militarized and strategic oceanic spaces within socity. These discourses draw the attention of Brazilian society to the need to preserve and protect Brazil’s rights and sovereignty over maritime space and its resources. The analysis presented contributes to the understanding of how the Brazilian Navy has been increasingly committed to the project of building a national maritime mentality, by encouraging the production of popular discourses.