Ceremonies of civilization : a study on the aesthetics of progress in the age of comparisons
Ceremoniali civilizacije : raziskava o estetiki napredka v dobi primerjav

english

2025

volume 8, issue 2/3

civilization   history of monarchies   political aesthetics   progress

Združenje za promocijo kulturne dediščine, raziskav in novih tehnologij Retrospektive
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

This article shows how post-Enlightenment philosophies of history were aesthetically embodied in certain events, institutions, and individuals that disseminated the linear and imperialist temporality of progress. As a case study, the article examines the 1876–1877 journey abroad of Dom Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, in the context of civilizational comparisons. The emperor’s practice of visiting institutions that materialized and displayed progress (museums, universities, factories, etc.) attracted the attention of the international press, which contributed to the fashioning and dissemination of that image. Moreover, his personal aversion to pompous ceremonies led to the adoption of novel political rituals that took place within progressive institutions and events, such as the International Exhibition in Philadelphia and the Caxton Celebration in London. Fashioned as “ceremonies of civilization,” these events – like the progressive emperor of a country socially and economically based on slave labor – reveal temporal ambivalences in the “age of comparisons.”

17.03.2026