ACUSAÇÕES DE FEITIÇARIA E INSURREIÇÕES ESCRAVAS NO SUDESTE DO IMPÉRIO DO BRASIL

Abstract

This paper is based upon a study on witchcraft beliefs in the Empire of Brazil. Our research showed that there was no legislation ruling over witchcraft accusations during Imperial times, unlike Colonial and Republican periods. Still, several kinds of contemporary documents helped us to demonstrate that under the Empire, as well as later on, under Republican governments, the belief in witchcraft pervaded all social classes. Paradigmatic cases were analyzed in order to unravel this magic-religious system of belief. Cases presented here regard newspaper stories about the hearings of a character called "Pai Gavião" ("Father Hawk"), a spirit who spoke through the mouth of an African slave in São Paulo, as well as documents produced by Imperial officers in Southwestern Brazil.