Provincializing São Paulo: The “Other” Regions Strike Back

Given the very real differences in levels of wealth and economic production between São Paulo and most other Brazilian states, but especially those in the North and Northeast, how did political groups in the latter regions respond to claims of paulista superiority? This chapter examines the responses in various print sources from outside São Paulo to the 1932uprising and considers the ways in which politicians, journalists, and intellectuals in Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, and Ceará, including Gilberto Freyre, used the language of nationalism and authenticity to challenge the legitimacy of paulista claims, to associate the uprising with a retrogressive politics, and to mobilize against the regional rebellion.