"Vós sabeis como as cousas se passam": magistratura, política e clientelismo nos sertões (Seridó, 1858-1907)

Abstract

In the present dissertation, we seek to analyze the political insertion of magistrates in the sertões of the north-rio-grandense Seridó, between 1858 and 1907, whose forms of action we investigate through a prosopographic study, from hemerographic and judicial sources, as well as the legislation on the Judiciary and on elections, in addition to the reports of the presidents of provinces/states and the Minister of Justice. Dialoguing with concepts such as political history, elites, clientelism and sociability networks, we seek to understand the dynamics of occupation of magistrate positions and their use for political purposes, analyzing how an idea of the sertão as a lawless, depopulated, uncivilized, influenced the choices of magistrates to act in the hinterland districts. Using a micro historical perspective, we take as a paradigm Dr. Manoel José Fernandes, a magistrate from Serido who, for more than forty years (1861-1907), was inserted in the political life of Seridó, as head of the Liberal Party, during the monarchy, and, proclaimed the Republic, of the Republican Party, whose professional and political trajectories we reconstruct, confronting them with those judges who acted in the sertões of Seridó and seeking to demonstrate the importance of the family group and the networks of cronyism for the local political elites to maintain their prestige and social status. Methodologically, we start with a bibliographical review, still using the evidence paradigm, and adopting micro-history and nominative linking as approaches in the management of sources.