"A terra lhes seja leve": adoecer e morrer na Paraíba oitocentista (1850-1900).

Abstract

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.