Cultural diplomacy through heritage preservation: the role of Brazil’s graphic heritage program

The Brazil in Comics Program, launched in 2019 by Instituto Guimarães Rosa within Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is a cultural diplomacy initiative that promotes Brazilian comics as tools for cultural representation and language education. This article examines the program’s Graphic Heritage collection, a series dedicated to UNESCO-recognized cultural heritage in Brazil. Focusing on the first three volumes, which center Afro-Brazilian cultural practices and sites of memory, the article situates the collection within broader debates on cultural diplomacy, heritage preservation, and epistemic justice. It argues that while the initiative advances state efforts to promote Brazilian culture internationally, the graphic narratives do more than function as instruments of national representation. Through their emphasis on historical continuity, community knowledge, and Afro-Brazilian agency, the works expose tensions between official state narratives, UNESCO heritage discourse, and the interventions of authors and illustrators. By analyzing the interplay between these discursive frameworks, the article demonstrates how heritage can serve as a site of negotiation where cultural diplomacy is both expanded and challenged, creating openings for epistemic justice and reparative imagination.