Entre a Pequena Roda e a Grande Roda: os capoeiras em Juiz de Fora no pósabolição (1882-1925)

Abstract

Since their first recorded appearances in the early decades of the 19th century, capoeira practitioners have held a prominent place in the Brazilian collective imagination. Stigmatized as troublemakers and vagrants, these individuals were a real nuisance to the police and political institutions, as demonstrated by the need to criminalize capoeira, as seen in articles 402, 403, and 404 of the 1890 penal code. As some studies have already shown, their public appearances provide a glimpse into strategies for confronting the slave system, forming associations and creating networks of companionship, integrating into the urban environment, etc. This study, therefore, aims to follow this line of thinking, focusing our reflection on the city of Juiz de Fora between the years 1882 and 1925. In this way, we intend to investigate the capoeiras who worked in Juiz de Fora over the years, the conflicts in which they were involved, their occupations in general, outline their experiences, and recover their trajectories. To this end, in line with the perspective of social history, we will use the following types of sources: criminal and judicial proceedings, municipal codes, newspapers, and census surveys.