Raptos, defloramentos, violência e relações de poder na Amazônia acreana (1904-1920)

Abstract

This work attempts at approaching the issue of criminality in the Federal State of Acre, mainly in relation to the so-called crimes against honour and morality. Newspaper reports, criminal trials and literary works are used as primary sources. Regardless of whether they are fictional or real, these crimes bear the mark of power relations between genders, typically in case of disputes between men for the same woman, or in vendettas by male parents to defend the injured honour of women from their family, among other practices related to a society characterised by “rituals of masculinity”, as claimed by McClintock (2010) when talking about colonial and imperial contexts. Therefore, the analysis of these issues in border areas, which are characterised by frequent encounters and clashes between people coming from many places, with different interests and backgrounds, reveals practices and identities often submerged beneath the surface of traditional narratives.

Keywords

• violance
• crime
• woman
• acre
• identity