POSTSCRIPT

Abstract

The postscript extends the story of the book into the contemporary moment and gestures towards a summary. Changes in material culture not only fueled the mass migration out of the countryside into cities and towns, it transformed the lives of Brazilians who came of age in the first half of the twentieth century as new consumer goods, new patterns of behavior, and new ways of being in the world became so incorporated into everyday life as to be routine. The consumer practices and behaviors that once seemed international became Brazilian—a process Woodard calls “Brazilianization.” Aspects of the new culture of consumption, even as they became Brazilian and contributed to Brazil’s remaking, came to be identified especially with specific parts of the country, with select cities and certain locales within them. So too was the larger consumer culture identified with particular Brazilians, nationally, regionally, and within favored corners of the urban southeast.