THE “UNDERSIDE OF MODERNIZATION”: SECONDARY EDUCATION AND INEQUALITY IN IMPERIAL BRAZIL

Abstract

This article analyzes the “undersides of modernization” in nineteenth-century Brazilian secondary education, highlighting how modernization projects coexisted with the reproduction of social and regional inequalities. Based on documentary research and the perspective of the New Cultural History, grounded in Chartier (2001), the study examines Pombaline legacies, the role of single-subject preparatory classes, and the creation of Colégio Pedro II in 1837. Findings show that although secondary education incorporated modern elements such as modern languages — particularly French, established as a compulsory subject — its structure remained selective, aimed primarily at the imperial elites. The methodology employed consisted of analyzing regulations, ministerial reports, and historiographical studies, which enabled us to understand how the discourse of spreading the “lights” was appropriated unevenly. The article concludes that nineteenth-century educational modernization functioned paradoxically: while broadening the curriculum and reinforcing state centralization, it restricted access to education, thus exposing the undersides of a process that claimed to be civilizing.