Institute for the Study of the Americas

The majority of the materials held in the collection here date from the period of military rule over Brazil between 1964 and 1985. Following the overthrow (with the alleged support of the United States) of the Goulart administration a series of generals presided during a period characterised by unprecedented economic growth and social repression. The former phenomenon, driven by huge state-backed industrialising projects such as the construction of the Itaipu hydroelectric dam and later by external borrowing culminating in the 1980s debt crisis, failed to bridge the inequalities of Brazilian society, as testified to here in the materials produced by development groups such as the Federação de Orgaos para Assistência Social e Educacional (FASE) as well as those of Christian organisations both indigenous and foreign. The latter is evinced here in the items produced by human rights and Latin American solidarity groups, whilst the restictions on organised labour which appeared to tie together authoritarianism and economic progress were increasingly challenged by the late 1970s by strikes particularly in the São Paulo industrial region, strengthening both the union confederations that are represented here and their political offshoot, the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT). The grievances of rural and urban organisations working for land and labour reform continued to be expressed as Brazil transferred to civilian government after 1985, with the holdings here from this period being dominated by the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) rather than the burgeoning number of political parties emerging in the post-military scene.