The four faces of Oliveira Vianna

Abstract

This article is an effort of dialogue between the main interpretations of Oliveira Vianna with
the continuities and ruptures of this work. Using a approach already quite established – that
divides such readings in four interpretative models: instrumental authoritarianism, agrarianism,
iberianism and state ideology – try to, within a genetic and chronological analysis of his work,
demonstrate that does not exist a single way to read Oliveira Vianna, but several. In our view,
since the formulation of ideas is a process – is inserted in the author’s trajectory and seeks to
respond to the challenges of his time – written over three decades, she admits continuity and
change. Therefore, not only supports multiple interpretations, as demand a new type of analysis,
multifaceted.