http://lattes.cnpq.br/4151612167705110; BORGES, Rafael Coppi.
Résumé:
This dissertation work aims to analyze the ways of getting sick and dying in 19th century
Paraíba. More specifically, to discuss the context of the smallpox, cholera and yellow fever
epidemics that, in the 19th
, century caused countless deaths and, thus, contributed to significant
changes in the burial rituals, traditionally performed in Paraiba province. In addition to this,
studying the ways of dying and the care of the dead body, paying attention to the funeral ritual,
culturally established in the daily life of Paraíba people at that time, and also, seeking in the
necrological practices and discourses, evidence that indicate the feelings that were experienced
and the attitudes that were taken by the society of Paraiba province in its relationship with death
and with everything that is connected to it. The documents analyzed are the Reports of
Presidents of Province and by journalistic prints from Paraíba in the 19th century. We take as
main theoretical contributions, Philippe Ariès (2014; 2017), which helps us to better understand
the theme of death; João José Reis (1991), who guides us on funeral rites in 19th century Brazil;
Azemar Soares Júnior (2016; 2020), Oscar de Castro (1945) and Michel Foucault (1984; 1987),
which provide us with information on the funeral, medical and hygienist contexts and on the
care of the dead body in the 19th century. Regarding Cultural History and Sensitivities, we have
the contributions of Peter Burke (2005) and Sandra Pesavento (2003; 2007), among other
authors. Regarding the methodology, our research is qualitative and interpretive, based on the
historiographical method of “document analysis”, according to Jacques Le Goff (1990). Here,
we see that the diseases and deaths caused by them significantly affected the life of the people
of Paraíba in the 19th century, causing profound consequences in mentalities, changing
culturally rooted practices and customs and creating new directions for the history of diseases,
death and of medicine in Paraíba.