Justiça, violência e normas sociais na vila de Água Branca, Sertão alagoano (1871-1890)

Abstract

This is a research study on the uses of justice and violence in a rural village called Água Branca, located in the province of Alagoas, in the Sertão do São Francisco region, during the 1870s and 1880s. By utilizing crime summaries, preserved in the archives of the Miguel Arcanjo de Siqueira Torres Courthouse, the periodical Jornal do Penedo, and the reports from the presidents of the province of Alagoas, crimes are analyzed from a social history perspective. The study prioritizes a micro-view of the sources, where individuals appear as central characters in the conflicts involving the village's residents. In this sense, the study seeks to understand the consolidation of the judiciary power in Água Branca throughout the 19th century. It investigates the form of conflict resolution through the use of violence, gathering information on the crimes that occurred in the parish, who the defendants and victims were, and the motivations for the crimes. It explores the relationship between norms and moral values and the occurrence of crimes, discussing violence considered justified in the face of affronts to male honor. Finally, it addresses the differences in behaviors between men and women as a catalyst for conflicts in the patriarchal sertaneja society, and the possibilities for complaints made by women to be accepted by the judiciary and for their aggressors to be punished in cases of assault and sexual crimes.