Memória, Política e Poder Local: investigando a construção da imagem e da memória do Coronel José Pereira na Paraíba (1889-1949).

Abstract

This work aims to investigate the image of Colonel José Pereira in Paraíba, focusing on the context of memory, politics, and local power. To better understand this study, we will explore the Princesa Revolt, the death of João Pessoa, and specifically, the "Revolution of 1930." We will also understand how the theatricalization of power occurred in the Paraíba territory, since this was a resource to legitimize politics in a ritualized and symbolic way, and to assimilate this, we will have the support of Hunt (2007) and Geertz (1980, 1997). Likewise, we will perceive how, from these events, the battle arose between the official/victorious memory, notably that of João Pessoa, and the memory of the losing oligarchy, especially that of Colonel José Pereira, in relation to the events that occurred after the "revolution." In parallel, we will analyze the peculiarities of the 1920s and 1930s, emphasizing the political context, and for this, we will have the support of historians Serioja Rodrigues Cordeiro Mariano (2018) and Inês Caminha Lopes Rodrigues (1978, 1980) to present this overview. The theoretical approach will be carried out in dialogue with historians/authors in the field of theatreocracy, for example, José Murilo de Carvalho, Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg, Clifford Geertz, Gervácio Batista Aranha, Georges Balandier, and José Luciano de Queiroz Aires. We will also draw on the study of memory, through Assmann, Candau, Catroga, and Ricoeur, with their assessment of impeded memory and manipulated memory (correlating it with the abuse of memory), among others. In the field of politics, we will have the assistance of Le Goff, Rémond, Cittadino, and Gouvêa regarding local power, along with Lewin, Gurjão, and Janotti; and in the biographical field, with the observations of Dosse and Schmidt. Methodologically, we will rely on Jacques Le Goff's conceptualization of the relationship between document/monument and Hobsbawm's verification of invented traditions. And with relevant and valuable contributions, we will use the analyses of newspapers, such as Barros (2023) and Luca (2021), which will very well illustrate the battles of memory in Paraíba through periodicals, for example: the “Jornal A União da Paraíba”, “Jornal de Princesa”, “Jornal do Commercio do Recife”, among others. We will also pertinently address the study of coronelismo (rule by local political bosses), clientelism, local bossism, patrimonialism, and cangaço (banditry) within our work.