An anthropophagic legacy: Oswald de Andrade's 'Manifesto Antropofago' in Brazilian anti-art and the works of Cildo Meireles

In his 1928 Manifesto Antropofago, the Brazilian poet and playwright Oswald de Andrade encouraged Brazilians to appropriate, consume, digest, and assimilate European theories and styles to enhance the Brazilian avant-garde. Oswald's theory of "cultural cannibalism," or Anthropophagy, has since been reinterpreted to serve various purposes in Brazilian art. In the early 1960s Anthropophagy was important to Neo-Concretists, who shifted the focus of the artwork to the viewer's body. The theory was then revived by the Tropicalists for its subversive nature and tactics of appropriation. Anthropophagy was immensely important to the generation of artists who worked during the Brazilian military regime in the 1960s and 1970s, who would use Anthropophagy as a model for appropriating elements of military rule to criticize the government.;The themes of the Manifesto Antropofago are often evident in the works of Cildo Meireles, whose art seems to employ Anthropophagy as a conceptual model. In his investigation of the effects of consumerism, sensory perception, and imperialism and colonialism, Meireles employs the elements of appropriation and subversion that are part of an Anthropophagic legacy. Meireles' interest in Anthropophagy culminates in a utopian interpretation of the theory, and a redefinition of its significance in terms of Brazilian identity.