Imbrications between tradition and modernity: colonial inscriptions in the real estate discourse of an urban Recife

Abstract

This article analyzes real estate advertisements from the 1970s, by perceiving them as a symptom of the maintenance of colonial traits in the constitution of the metropolitan landscape. For this, we evoke Gilberto Freyre and his discussion about the patriarchal traits transplanted to the urban logic of the 19th century, in articulation with Lúcia Leitão, in her update of Freyrean thought. In a first moment, we describe the historical conditions of possibility of the symbolic productions discussed here: the metropolization of Recife and its densification process concomitant to the profusion of advertisements. In a second moment, we present the actualization of the patriarchal order that is inscribed in urban centers associated with the modernizing impulses. Finally, we analyze some advertisements that evoke the imbrications between tradition and modernity, reiterating Freyre’s thesis that there is a transplantation of the colonial patriarchal order to modern life.