Favored otherness: depictions of soccer matches between Brazil and Argentina in the Rio de Janeiro press

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the construction of nationalism and of cultural stereotypes about “being Brazilian” by focusing on the football matches with the Argentinean national team. We analyze reports in two dailies (Correio da Manhã and Jornal dos Sports) during three Copa Roca tournaments (1939, 1940, and 1945) and during the South American Championship of 1945. The data give evidence of the construction of two complementary types of narrative: the first reveals a tension between “tradition” and “modernization”; the second points to the construction of cultural stereotypes about Brazilians and Argentineans that, in fact, reinforce ideals of civility related to images of European white manhood.