Portunol and border identity in Rivera, Uruguay: Reconciling identities and claiming space in the national imaginary

Abstract

This thesis explores identity formation in the city of Rivera, Uruguay on the Brazilian border through exploring changing attitudes toward Portuñol, a mixed dialect of Spanish and Portuguese spoken along the Brazil/Uruguay border. The data analyzed was gathered through participant observation and ethnographic interviews of sixty-three Riverans between the ages of eighteen and seventy-nine during two stays in Rivera, Uruguay. This data indicates that the mixture of Uruguayan and Brazilian cultural traits evident in Riveran culture does not correlate with loss of attachment to Uruguayan national identity. Furthermore, there is a growing movement to value this mixed identity, particularly within the middle class and the Spanish or Portuguese-dominant bilingual population of the city. The author concludes that this border identity movement is the result of changes in conceptions of culture and national identity at the national and global level.