Elite families and oligarchic politics on the Brazilian frontier: Mato Grosso, 1889-1937

One of the central issues in Latin American political history is the role p layed by oligarchies. In the case of Brazil, students of oligarchy have foc used on elite family networks and coronelismo, the often violent manifestat ion of oligarchic politics at the local level. Drawing on the substantial b ody of literature on the family in Latin America, this essay proposes an in terpretation of oligarchical politics in which changing family structures i nteracted in new political cal and economic contexts to produce distinctive types of oligarchy in a sequential rather than synchronic or functional ma nner. The dominance of traditional elite families on the Brazilian frontier was challenged during periods of social and economic change, resulting in the rise of transitional and new oligarchies with substantially different s ocioeconomic origins, career paths, and family structures.