“Essencialmente agrícola”?: progresso, modernização e propaganda agrícola nas entrelinhas da revista O Agricultor (1922-1943)

Abstract

This work was carried out based on the analysis of the magazine O Agricultor, published by the Agricultural School of Lavras, in Minas Gerais, from 1922 to 1943. The number of analyzed magazines was 107, corresponding to 115 edition numbers of the total of 136 .The stages of this work are summarized in: mapping, digitization, cataloging and analysis of magazines. The research was qualitative character, being bibliographic and documentary. It was based on the conception of document/monument, which, in a fragmentation of the magazine, was intended to unveil the myths and constructed truths. With this work it could be observed that the magazine had commercial characteristics and targeted as public capitalized agricultural producers. The influence of the USA was demonstrated mainly by the way the school guided its Agricultural Propaganda Service, perceived by the magazine O Agricultor. The magazine aligned itself with the ideas of modernization and progress of the time and had agriculture as a promoter of development, based on the export of primary goods. Based on foreign models, in the light of the central countries, the idea was spread that Brazil was an essentially agricultural country. Such a preposition kept Brazil under unfavorable conditions in the International Labor Division, which over time accentuates the condition of underdevelopment. The magazine O Agricultor spread a thought and behavior that contributed to the establishment of capitalism.