Transnational Lampoon: Visual Culture and Ridicule in São Paulo's Italian-Language Press

In central Rome, around the corner from Piazza Navona and a few blocks from the Pantheon, is Piazza di Pasquino, a public square named for a statue it contains. The Pasquino statue represents a centuries-long tradition of public criticism whereby Romans post a satirical comment, or pasquinata, that condemns a high-profile individual or decries an issue of some kind. We might find today similar sardonic expressions in a social media post or the comments section beneath a piece of online news.In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this practice of public criticism, like many forms of cultural output and social activism, traversed the Atlantic along with millions of Italians who migrated to South America. In São Paulo, the largest center of Italian immigration in Brazil, the tradition manifested itself most prominently in a variety of print periodicals that used propaganda, caricature, and criticism to promote their viewpoints and to lampoon targets of local and transatlantic derision. This article begins with a broad outline of visual and satirical elements in São Paulo's Italian-language press during the period around World War I. It reviews content from a variety of publications representing middle-, upper-, and working-class communities and provides an overview of many social and ideological perspectives and editorial techniques that were present in the late 1910s. It also calls attention to the diversity of opinions, wealth of intellect, and depth of creativity that existed within Italian immigrant and ethnic communities as well as their various engagements with paulista, Brazilian, Italian, and transatlantic issues driven especially by the crises of war. In this review, it becomes clear that visual material, illustrations, and sarcastic commentary were predominant features of the vibrant print culture generated by Italian immigrants and their descendants in São Paulo.The second part of this article narrows the focus to examine the content from 1915 to 1918 of a specific weekly satirical publication, Il pasquino coloniale, which took its name, attitude, and embrace of public criticism from the eponymous statue in Rome. This periodical covered topics of local, national, transnational, and global importance alongside a collection of other titles published by the Italian-language press in São Paulo. But it also stood apart, as this article demonstrates. Its cynicism was prolific, profane, and unwavering. The breadth of its opinions was relatively broad, from an ideological perspective. And its jeering cartoons and contemptuous illustrations relentlessly pilloried people that lived, and events that took place, right next to its offices in the city center—or an ocean away. Much of the content in Il pasquino coloniale during these years was highly shaped by the war in Europe and the pro-Italy mobilization supported by many (but certainly not all) Italians in Brazil. The conflict and its impacts across the Atlantic are evident throughout the pages of Il pasquino coloniale, but so is its editorial stance in relation to these issues. It could serve as a propaganda tool for or against the combatant countries on the other side of the ocean. It could also seek to influence ethnic rivalries in São Paulo and hold accountable local Italian elites who sought to capitalize on the war for their own benefit.In this analysis, the review of these periodicals’ activities helps to illustrate broad tendencies in São Paulo's Italian-language press across the classes and points of view they represented. These tendencies include the important roles that visual culture and satire could play in shaping public opinion as well as the prominence of these editorial strategies in an immigrant and ethnic community engaged with issues that were both local and transatlantic (often at the same time). Meanwhile, a close examination of the pages of Il pasquino coloniale provides a window into what might have been missing from those of other periodicals during a critical period of crisis and polarization. The fundamentally satirical newspaper trod a thin line near the center of a polarized environment that few other periodicals did or could. In so doing, the content in Il pasquino coloniale harkens back to the longstanding tradition in Rome from which it took its name, although many times contributors to Il pasquino coloniale may have merely tried to be vulgar and funny.As in other large centers of Italian immigration in the Americas, the size and diversity of Italian communities in the city of São Paulo and the state that surrounds it generated a wide array of publications, as outlined by comprehensive surveys of the Italian-language press in Brazil written by Angelo Trento (2011) and Pantaleone Sergi (2010). Similar surveys exist for Italian-language publications in Argentina, while a significant amount of historical work has been published on contemporaneous periodicals produced by Italian communities in the United States (Bertagna 2009; Vellon 2014; Bencivenni 2011; De Luise 2012).According to Italian government statistics on emigrant departures, more than 1.2 million residents of Italy departed for Brazil between 1878 and 1914, when World War I began and restricted migratory flows substantially (Commissariato Generale dell'Emigrazione 1926, 671). The largest wave of migration occurred in the 1890s, when landowners in Brazil were looking to replace slave labor following emancipation in 1888 and Brazilian officials and social engineers sought to whiten the country's population by encouraging, and even subsidizing, immigration from Europe. The annual average of nearly fifty-seven thousand Italian departures for Brazil in the 1890s fell to roughly thirty-one thousand per year in the first decade of the twentieth century and to twenty-five thousand in the first half of the 1910s. Italian government prohibitions on subsidized migration to Brazil and the greater flow of Italian migrants to Argentina and the United States were among the reasons for the reduction in transit to Brazil. Most Italians in the country went to the state of São Paulo, where many coffee plantations filled the countryside, while its capital city became a leading center of Brazilian industrialization by the early twentieth century. The 1920 census in Brazil recorded almost four hundred thousand Italians in the state of São Paulo, about 71 percent of the Italians in Brazil (many had returned to Italy or gone elsewhere). At that time, Italians made up 48 percent of the foreign-born population in the state (Ministério da Agricultura, Industria e Commercio 1926, 302, 317). In the city of São Paulo, the 1920 census recorded more than ninety-one thousand Italian-born residents, 15 percent of the total population, which also contained many Brazil-born children of Italians more attracted to work in industrial and service sectors than in agriculture (Ministério da Agricultura, Industria e Commercio 1926, 861).As a result, by the 1910s, some ítalo-paulistas (São Paulo residents of Italian origin) were new arrivals to Brazil while others were the children and grandchildren of immigrants from Italy (Trento 1989). They were members of some of the wealthiest families in Brazil and laborers on factory floors and coffee plantations (Marcovitch 2003; Costa Couto 2004; Biondi 2010; Brandão 2015). Some Italians in metropolitan São Paulo were devout Catholics and others were Freemasons; some Anarchists or Socialists and others Republicans or Royalists; some artists or artisans and others shopkeepers or engineers. Whatever their professions, income levels, or beliefs, they could likely find a periodical written in Italian that represented their interests, especially if they could read. But even those who were illiterate could pick up many publications and scan the photographs, advertisements, and drawings for news, opinion, and other information. They might also be exposed to news and editorials in periodicals with the help of family members, coworkers, or neighbors who could read.One attribute that most Italian-language periodicals in São Paulo shared was their coverage of and opinion columns about local events—from labor unrest to cultural festivities to political rallies—alongside international news items that most often discussed happenings in Italy. As such, daily, weekly, biweekly, and monthly publications informed their readers of issues pertinent to their immediate lives and environs while serving as an important conduit of transatlantic communication with their country of origin. Typical of residents in other immigrant and ethnic enclaves in the past and present, Italians in São Paulo inhabited two worlds: a public one in which they engaged with wider Brazilian society and with the local mainstream (often in Portuguese), and a more private one based in families and neighborhoods that were integrated into Italian transnational networks of interaction and exchange. During the late 1910s, both of these worlds were significantly impacted by World War I, which Italy entered in May 1915 to fight primarily against Austria-Hungary in the eastern and which Brazil entered in in with the The conflict and its impacts in the shaped the content of Italian-language periodicals in São Paulo during this of their and has two to the of periodicals present in São Paulo in the with to the and points of view that they often and to present of publications large and propaganda, and in of their editorial and ideological The strategies of these publications might to and opinions, seek to the of among or to and of individual issues at the they the immigrant and ethnic press did more than the news to residents or ideological to attention and to influence their newspaper was the most Italian-language in Brazil in the early twentieth century in by became the of for the Italian community in São Paulo and its in (Trento In the 1910s, its may have as as thousand the of from high-profile and to be a the and had a in labor by World War I it to to a even if it supported working-class among São Paulo war years in the pages of the visual of a newspaper of its and international like and and like and their and alongside transatlantic like the e that Italian communities for and often of at and in central São Paulo conflict in Europe the pages of also into a for It published of the of the that was in São Paulo to the war and the and it to the local of in the and the it made to in Italy The also of pro-Italy on the of the city the most in the newspaper during the war were of Italian from São Paulo who had a that was published in or who were in and with an for to Italian were with of Italian from to a of or are a of the and a of in to on the first of the of a Italian in In the more than other publications in São Paulo, were with and that its of the war and the war Italian-language publications in São Paulo that took a stance also published visual to the of their to Italian and to the coloniale, a by coverage of the or among São Paulo in its pages the of the local in for industrial at the of the first of a new and next to a as a and for who had of for Italy at the of in the periodical alongside about the war a newspaper by to seek attention from the classes than did and more from the of the It about the of in the conflict as it published of members of the in for and occurred alongside a to local Italian members of the about their to in the war It more than coloniale and took a in its of the conflict and ethnic rivalries in Brazil conflict even one to its in the pages of a weekly by who used the during World War I was from Italy had of during the and who Italian in the had of and in their opinion be part of a Italy and not to the to In São Paulo, it was the community of ethnic in or who were by Italians during the war both for reasons and of local was present in many Italian-language Il Meanwhile, rivalries were the of on the of Italian communities in São Paulo and Brazil The 1920 census around thousand in the city of São Paulo and thousand in the state in Brazil in to the but they attention from ítalo-paulistas of for (Ministério da Agricultura, Industria e Commercio 1926, in during the war of on the of by the war in São Paulo to of in of the and a of Italians in Brazil of social classes a to a of Italy to to war Italian residents of São Paulo to the in be to the of these of pages of both large and and other forms of visual and in these periodicals media news and opinion could seek to and readers They could in the late 1910s, be important for propaganda, the of Italian in like metropolitan São Paulo, and the of mobilization on a transnational from between Italy and Brazil. The and readers of these and for a relatively large the for the of these visual and elements in their This was the for working-class periodicals published by the Italian community in São Paulo. their contributors used other with which they to and Italian-language publications of working-class in São Paulo in the were and The with a of two thousand or more during that was published weekly by an Italian and the a weekly published from it had an from to was the of the leading Italian in the city (Trento The pages of these periodicals were in to those of the more mainstream Italian-language The by for more from their that were reasons for and a of advertisements, and other visual This was the even as visual features have been to and among the which had of In the of those visual the editorial at these periodicals sought to attention and by their columns with and of their within São Paulo and ideological targets on both of the did its a with that the for social from the to the of the for May or a for a on the Italian were among the few readers of had to to the of transnational, and local in the more mainstream Italian-language press during the war. to a war of the and families in with or Meanwhile, the of were merely of of their war coverage and who among a public that on The contributors to with of these of among working-class Italian residents on the or in the or of São the of as than by the 1910s, the Italian-language periodical was more in its opinions and for the than it also its targets during the war were primarily the and Italians in São Paulo who the mobilization The sarcastic of local Italian as used by They to what they to be coverage in as or of the family were and other São Paulo Italians and of that the local elites in a or of while these and by of like and to that the of the war had the ocean to the of Brazil as the conflict generated ethnic among in São Paulo and that on and than Some of the most criticism was for periodical like who went to with and the of the of the they for to in the Italian of the by the published by is to The was not but jeering and filled with to readers with that were and During the contributors to these tried to the of with of they to a on the of the with the and mainstream among Italian-language they a on creativity and in their to attention and influence their opinions while serving as one periodical among a many to Italians in São was in this editorial environment of vibrant visual and opinion that Il pasquino coloniale a The weekly was in the of and the early with a of its a line in the and (Trento During World War I, it had a as large as thousand and its offices on da near the of São Paulo's It was not the first Italian-language in the city to satire and to of periodicals with the or it (Trento The satirical or was in and with which was published from to around the same as a written in many Italian immigrants in Brazil from the (Trento Il pasquino coloniale is for the size of its and its to to events during a period of in international and local news It was not the satirical periodical in Italian during the but its had a that a few hundred (Trento the Il pasquino coloniale was merely a satirical filled with and about topics to its its to on that was a clear its editorial especially in relation to the cartoons in its it its content with and the contributors could or and opinions in a as have many other satirical and During the period around World War I, most of the cartoons in pasquino coloniale to the in São Paulo, the conflict in or the of members of the Italian communities who were often in the And as the the periodical used its to a among the Italian-language press in the propaganda Italian and was at the of the visual of published by Il pasquino coloniale in the late on the on news from the in the and for These a to a into a of Italian in with a large of Italy in the pasquino a used of a with a and the of of on at a with and to in the that not be pasquino more of an a by an Italian pasquino was used on the on the most important for in a of the Italian on leading a of in a the to the second of of war pasquino for propaganda for Il pasquino coloniale contributors to annual which the Italian government in communities of Italians around the the 1918 a a of the São Paulo Italian as a in a and in a of the of and Argentina pasquino had million Italian in war against million and in these other a at the center and a of Italians into it from the right from the and a pasquino had a in an Italian a to an in the with a a Italy an with a and the into the of a for one of the Italian sought to from Austria-Hungary during the war pasquino along these could be used in to to to the In one the to be to among São Paulo as the up and as to those who not to have to war for the pasquino In of to be the as an like and a with the that the went to the of these pasquino elements of the mobilization were supported by published in Il pasquino coloniale, for in the local of the Italian pasquino The also the against criticism with a of drawings that its members and to children of and to those in the and for and to war and pasquino Brazil entered the war in Il pasquino coloniale drawings a on the of a Brazilian to the of and an embrace between of Italy and Brazil on its pasquino The of like these have been even to a of the in Il pasquino coloniale could also and or be in their although the the contributors to the in their of was in of the and their The was often as a and to as or in and were by in a where was made up of of pasquino as a with a from pasquino The while often in cartoons as a in one in war on of a of pasquino and itself from Il pasquino coloniale who as from a of and and the as a who became like a as a of the war. The of Il pasquino coloniale, as it and its were broad, of the in the could a during a in Europe as up a with the at one a of of from thousand to two hundred thousand pasquino The the for the next of the In other a as the United States with and the of was as a in a among the pasquino the first in what Il pasquino coloniale to as a an was by and Italian while a was in the window of the in the other pasquino The of the content in Il pasquino coloniale and the of for its that its were well to the happenings and of the that these of the could and for the among Italians in and that Il pasquino coloniale used to the Italian war to and to in Europe and the were to influence at with elements of among São Paulo These could have some importance if they generated for the Italian to families of who returned to Italy to or rivalries in greater São Paulo to the the with the in the cartoons of Il pasquino coloniale were when they on local even if those were most often to the pasquino coloniale and its contributors a caricature, and on the one and in their on the it to the war in Il pasquino coloniale shared points of view with the mainstream Italian-language discussed its opinions about the to those of the labor periodicals by and In other at the same that it Italian Il pasquino coloniale had an especially when its contributors among local in this its content most the longstanding of that back to its statue in in the pages of Il pasquino coloniale are of the the of São Paulo's Italian the of local as around the of the Italian a that the Italian of the Italian Italian-language and so These that were to the among Italian within Italian communities more during the war. They also an of and among Italian and classes in the satire and in the pages of Il pasquino coloniale to have been was in the most members of Italian communities accountable for their in the late of Italian for from members on those social with of into a or the of a pasquino same were next to for the war and the of like during pasquino and its were the targets of was represented by an that a to to a or a of the as for Il pasquino coloniale pasquino Meanwhile, was as a that was in Italians in São Paulo than in of by its during the war. the editorial as or in than pasquino of its pasquino coloniale more than other periodicals with in its pages elements of the Italian mobilization It used cartoons to who to into the Italian who did not to be pasquino It a by a from Italy to São Paulo as a than an of pasquino It went so as to the Italian when it a of Italy on the of a São Paulo family and a from and children pasquino The newspaper could be critical of the Italian and when so made of the was pasquino to pasquino coloniale even on the and to in the Atlantic It was Brazil entered the war that Il pasquino coloniale had to some back from its of Brazilian a in a satirical The editorial to lampoon their own periodical a by the contributors to the of what was in print during a period of and is a of visual culture on in pasquino coloniale, and the of the topics and in its pages is back at its content during the war to the its to the many other publications in São Paulo's Italian-language The creativity and of its content could certainly attention and But a clear and from its pages during the war It many Italian to the war and was to the and with the it was critical of members of communities who their for during especially when they used among the and by the war to their And the could be critical even of the Italian government and the war at line that contributors to for not to Il pasquino coloniale was a satirical publication, its contributors could more than a between a around and a at local, national, and global Il pasquino coloniale could to more and even more to at a of polarization. It could also to of its cartoons while the war and its impacts made lives more and editorial techniques by Il pasquino coloniale were not among Italian-language periodicals in Brazil during the early twentieth as the first section of this article culture and satire were of an immigrant and ethnic press that represented many in a and Italian population throughout the metropolitan and state of São Paulo by the late 1910s. In some a might be a thousand and might be more than a editorial or an or ideological These contributors could be the or the of their the same time, while the perspectives in Il pasquino coloniale and other publications were to their and time, the was from of satirical that these periodicals’ during War few were in but was at one weekly newspaper in Brazil that could be critical of the and content were in but its to Italian, and transatlantic are evident in this review of Italian-language periodicals