Returning the Honor of Work: "German Work," Society, and Deutschtum in Pre-emancipation Brazil

German nationalists in Europe like Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl perceived industriousness as a unique and central feature of Germanness (Deutschtum). The concept of "German work" was present not only among nationalist thinkers in Germany, however, but within German immigrant communities abroad as well. This paper focuses on German settlers (Teuto-Brazilians) in the southernmost Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul, between 1860 and the abolition of slavery in 1888. In the region's German-language public sphere during this period, Teuto-Brazilian journalists also asserted that a distinctive relationship existed between German settlers and labor. Furthermore, these writers used claims regarding slavery as a means not only to put forward a distinct ethno-cultural identity, but also to claim that Teuto-Brazilians’ supposed industriousness could redeem a Brazilian society they perceived as debilitated by its long-standing dependence on slave labor. Teuto-Brazilian journalists argued that slavery created an aversion towards work among Luso-Brazilians (Brazilians of Portuguese descent), but German settlers, who supposedly did not use slaves, maintained their singularly assiduous approach towards labor. My paper will discuss how Teuto-Brazilian writers' contentions regarding "German work," Deutschtum, and slavery created a discursive connection between abolition, German settlers, and the future of Brazilian society.