The German language as a defining feature of ethnic identity in Pomerode

Abstract

This work analyzes the German language as a defining feature of German-Brazilian ethnic identity in Pomerode city (SC) since the 1980s, by the means of German-Brazilians‟ accounts of their personal and social lives. To do so, the study investigates the meanings attributed by the deponents to the German language, both regarding its objective and subjective aspect. This study is supported by the relational ethnicity theory, by research on ethnic-cultural identity, and by the Oral History methodology. In Pomerode, the German language is both individually experienced and shared within the ethnic collective. Moreover, it is related to the production of meanings that each deponent experienced in their family and ethnic community, characterizing permanence and transformation of the language‟s role, as well as a negotiation of individual and collective meanings. On the one hand, the redefinition of the German language‟s role in Pomerode is associated with its own ethnic group. In other words, it is connected with the self-understanding of the group‟s ethnic identity. On the other hand, it is associated with identity‟s commercialization, that is, with the language‟s instrumentalization.

Keywords

• German Language
• Ethnic Identity
• Pomerode
• Oral History.