Cultura, diversidade e democracia: um debate acerca das políticas culturais no Brasil

Abstract

For a better understanding and evaluation of the cultural policies implemented throughout President Lula‟s government (2003-2010) – that is to say, the National Plan for Culture and the National System of Culture – this research intends to trace in a panoramic way the interventions of the Brazilian State in this area throughout history as well as to question the construction of a national identity, mixed and popular, with the intention of visualizing a multicultural country. The perception that a broad and rich cultural diversity is found, which congregates diverse cultures such as the indigenous, the African, the European and the Asiatic, among others, as well as a diverse cultural/artistic production - the scholar, the urban, the rural, the folk and the peripheral -, accruing still the identity interests of the different social groups that form this melting pot - gives support to the relevance of this work. As it is known, the kind of conception that the State has of culture and identity influences the State‟s projects and interventions. The aim of this work is to contribute to the understanding of the relationships between State and culture in Brazil and the recent governmental actions, considered to be structuring measures for the cultural field. The theoretical perspectives which guide this work, in addition to broaden the notion of culture, give priority to the relationships of power perceived in the symbolic universe or focus on their identity aspects in its observations. The materialistic dimension is always emphasized, as it understands culture as dynamic and historical.