Entre estradas e veredas: messianismo nos sertões do estado do Rio Grande do Norte (XIX-XX)

Abstract

This work discusses the sertões as spaces for the construction of messianic movements in Brazil, taking as its object the Messianic Movement of Serra de João do Vale, led by Blessed Joaquim Ramalho at the end of the 19th century in Vila do Triunpho, State of Rio Grande do Norte . The issue arose from a scarce historiographical production on the movement at a regional and national level. Initially, they were evidenced in the writings of Luís da Câmara Cascudo in an article published in the Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico do Rio Grande do Norte (IHGRN) and in the Jornal do Comércio do Rio de Janeiro in 1941. For a better analysis, we look into works such as “The messianism in Brazil and in the world” by sociologist Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz and “Readings of religious fanaticism in the Brazilian hinterland” by Cristina Pompa. We adopted the approach of Discourse History and Oral History, from authors such as Eni Orlandi and Verena Alberti, for an analysis of the sources, namely: articles in newspapers and magazines, private archives, drawings created from oral reports of Serra residents by João do Vale, books and classifieds. At the end of this work, the discourses that constituted and named the Messianic Movement of Serra de João do Vale were verified, starting from concepts that disqualified the sertões and their religiosity.