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'The central conundrum in Brazil’s struggle to construct a cultural identity of its own has remained remarkably constant since the first Portuguese explorers arrived in 1500 and encountered Tupi-speaking peoples: To what extent should the European components of the country’s heritage be favored, as opposed to its indigenous and African strands? Or as a group of São Paulo intellectuals memorably phrased it in a manifesto issued nearly a century ago, “Tupi or not Tupi; that is the question.”
