Acculturation on the Portuguese historical narrative: Gilberto Freyre’s contributions and limitations

Abstract

This paper interpreted the theory of Gilberto Freyre under the light of the Berry and the Rudmin models. The Portuguese culture preferred the dimensions of the fusion model. The Portuguese was different regarding the Anglo-Saxon culture, because were reported interactions and learning second cultures. Furthermore, motivations regulated cultural attitudes. However, the Freyre’s theory worked on the Portuguese culture as a consensual ideology, because the three samples preferred simultaneously real and ideal appraisals. The three samples preferred to mix cultures, yet they had different appraisals according to their social status. Furthermore, the samples preferred cultural mixtures, regardless that they answered that the intercultural relationships would not change the Portuguese culture. That contradiction reported the major limitation of the Freyre theory. The main article contribution was to report Europeans and Westerns learning second cultures, and mainly to report the majority appraisals about their own cultural changes.