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Between 1862 and 1889, the Empire of Brazil participated in the most important world's fairs in Europe and North America. Although these mass gathering events focused on technological development and commodities, representations of Brazil's population and culture also played an important role in the elites' project to promote a "progressive and civilized" country abroad. Nevertheless, the exhibition planners not only displayed machines, scientific instruments and manufactures goods. For them, it was equally important to combine ideas of modernity with the celebration of a glorious pre-Columbian past. By this line of thought, the Empire of Brazil emerged as the result of a long-term teleological process, taking ancient indigenous cultures as its historical starting point. However, this discourse, as exemplified by Indianist artwork and ethnographic exhibits, was highly ambivalent.

The field of global history has been thriving for over two decades; however, unlike Europe, the United States, and Asia, which have witnessed a true 'boom' in this area, there has been no such significant development in Latin America. In fact, there is even an attitude of rejection toward what many academics in the region consider an 'Anglo-Saxon trend.' This article argues that this lack of attachment to global history lies in conceptual flaws, as well as in the continuous production of academic work that lacks nuance and is predominantly based on secondary literature written in English. To counteract these tendencies and better adapt the field to the academic and historical realities of Latin America, this article engages in a dialogue with representatives of decolonial studies. This article suggests that an approach to this movement--whose followers condemn the implicit Eurocentrism of Western historiography--will contribute to the necessary decolonization of global history. KEYWORDS: global history, Latin America, decoloniality, transnational history, Eurocentrism, historiography., Currently, global history is one of the most visible and influential fields of historiography. Historical studies that transcend the analytical framework of the nation-state and criticize the Eurocentrism of a [...]

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