Um ilustrado nas fronteiras da alteridade: Félix de Azara e a questão do “outro”

Abstract

After the signature of the Treaty of 1778, many expeditions were send by the Iberic crowns with the purpose of demarcating the borders of their possessions in the America. In one of these expeditions came to the region the Aragonese Felix de Azara (1742 – 1821). Due to the delay in the demarcation works, Azara decided to un-dertake many voyages to the inland of the American continent, collecting informations about the places where he passed. With this labour, the military became a recognized naturalist in his time. The objective of this dissertation is to understand the point of view of Felix the Azara towards the “other” and what relations the Aragonese kept with the local inhabitants. In order to do that we are going to use the proposition of Tzevetan Todorov on approaching the theme of “otherness” in the Enlightenment era. We intend to know better not only Azara, but also his point of view as a Spanish of the Enlightenment Era about a platine region society in the late XVIII century.