Resulting from the dialogue between French and Brazilian historians, this book assesses the current research trends, four decades after the emergence of cultural history in France and in the wake of the Brazilian historiographic boom of the last 25 years, largely driven by this historiographic current. The organizers wished, on the one hand, to make this historiographic production known to a French public and, on the other hand, to highlight the central role played by culture in the evolution of contemporary Brazil. In order to do so, they have chosen to explore a variety of fields, from romantic literature to popular music, theater and cinema, the staging of bodies, the memory and the making of cultural heroes. Identity constructs, cultural policies, the phenomena of borrowing and crossbreeding are at the heart of the reflection. These different elements are divided into four thematic areas. A historiographical perspective, first of all allows us to analyse the specificity of Brazilian cultural history and the legacy of Gilberto Freyre. Modernism, the flagship object of 20th century Brazil, opens the second stage of reflection. The links between culture and politics constitute the third thematic axis with a series of contributions devoted to the period of the dictatorship (1964-1985). The last part of the book is devoted to the study of circulations and transfers. At the heart of the four parts that make up this book is the study of material supports, cultural smugglers - artists and travellers, diplomats, exiles, merchants, translators and publishers - and transatlantic networks.