Hordas selvagens, caboclos e índios: o imaginário social sobre as populações indígenas em Alagoas no século XIX. Apontamentos sobre a obra “Índios de Alagoas: documentário” de Clóvis Antunes

Abstract

The focus of this monography is to analyze a set of historical-documentary sources presented in the book by Clóvis Antunes, entitled “Índios de Alagoas: Documentário”, published in 1984 by the Editora da Universidade Federal de Alagoas (EDUFAL). Clóvis Antunes is a retired Adjunct Professor at the former Center for Human Sciences, Letters and Arts (1965- 1980) at UFAL. In this book, the author presents a series of reports and Letters from the Partial Directorates of the Indians and the General Directorate of the Indians in Alagoas between 1820 and 1872. These Reports describes various aspects of the socio-economic and demographic situation of the indigenous populations in the north-east brazilian Alagoas State. Those reports were written by the “Partial Directors”, public agents appointed by the Presidents of the Province of Alagoas, responsible for managing the settlements. My intention in this monography is to analyze a set of Partial Reports presented in the author's book with the objective of reconstituting the social representations of the indigenous populations in Alagoas in that period. With this monography I intend to contribute to revisiting the way in which indigenous populations in Alagoas were described from the point of view of agents and public agencies. It is an initial, modest effort, but one that could help us understand how the state and current Brazilian society relate to these populations.