“Aquelas que botavam feitiço”: mulheres acusadas de feitiçaria no sertão de Caicó-RN (1919-1933).

Abstract

According to Russell, witchcraft occurs in almost all societies in the world, being the oldest and most profound element in the historical concept of European magic. In Brazil, the studies by Laura de Mello and Souza (2009) say that with the broad Portuguese imaginary, and from the hybrid combinations of Europeans, indigenous people and black Africans, possible magical practices, complex and original witchcraft were elaborated. Over the centuries, these practices were pursued by institutions and followers of the Inquisition, or by ordinary people, who believed in this phenomenon in a superstitious way. In this way, our dissertation is structured around three 20th century criminal cases, with defendants tried for crimes committed against women, accused of being witches or having done witchcraft. The research was developed in the archives of the Historical Documentation Laboratory of Ceres / Caicó-RN (LABORDOC), thinking about the concepts of witchcraft, the accusations, the ones considered superstitions, and all the speeches built in the processes. Mainly perceiving space: the backlands of Caicó-RN, and time, far from the common history of European witchcraft.