How a small Brazilian town became an unlikely battleground over Confederate memory

By Jordan Brasher, Visiting Assistant Professor of Geography, Macalester College

There were no antebellum hoop skirts at the site of Brazil’s annual “Festa Confederada,” or Confederate Festival, in 2024. Flag poles that once flew the Brazilian flag alongside the red, white and blue rebel banner of the American Confederacy stood barren.

Since 1980, the Confederate Festival – a series of cultural performances and culinary experiences combining Brazilian traditions with those of the American South ...