ARCHIGENEALOGICAL ANALYSIS OF SEGREGATION AND EXCLUSION MECHANISMS IN CARIRI METROPOLITAN AREA, CEARÃ, BRAZIL

Abstract

The present study is the description and analysis of three episodes that occurred during the twentieth century in the region of Cariri, Ceará State, Brazil: the Buriti concentration camp, the community Caldeirão da Santa Cruz do Deserto and a psychiatric hospital. They are objects for the analysis of the power relations and governmentality related to the poor, drought migrants and the mad. To that end, elements and concepts from the work of Michel Foucault are used, especially the concept of biopower as a general governmental strategy. In addition, the multidimensional perspective of poverty was used, since these mechanisms were applied to the bodies of poor people, justified by the preservation and maintenance of others’ lives.  This work aims to describe and analyze three events of the early twentieth century, relating them to the strategies of governance, control and power over the bodies of poor people. We highlight the importance of critical and reflexive apprehension in relation to the contexts in which discourses and practices of exclusion are inscribed.