Can the South be my country? Nationalism, national identity, and separatism in southern Brazil

Abstract

This article analyzes the separatist movement O Sul é o Meu País (The South is My Country) through the lens of nationalism theories (particularly those of Ernst Renan, Ernest Gellner, Benedict Anderson, and Eric Hobsbawm). Unlike studies that focus on the movement’s economic or legal feasibility, our aim is to identify echoes of a “southern” identity in opposition to the Brazilian national identity. To this end, we adopt a qualitative and interpretative approach, combining a critical review of classical theories of nationalism with a historical-discursive analysis of the movement. The analytical process involves: (a) examining the historical coupling between State and nation in the formation of a specific type of political unit; (b) discussing the development of an “official” Brazilian national identity and its implications; (c) confronting this national identity with the self-image mobilized by the OSMP, in dialogue with the historical process of regional formation; and (d) assessing the movement’s legal and political infeasibility in light of these elements. We argue that the claim for independence is presented as the region’s natural destiny and, even without legal or political viability, retains relevance in shaping a local political imagination – whether as an “imagined community” or an “invented tradition.” In this sense, the theoretical contributions examined here provide analytical tools to understand southerners as a nation in their own right, although such recognition does not imply – given the movement’s negligible practical political relevance – any possibility of achieving its separatist objectives.