A FERRO E FOGO: SIMBOLOGIA NA MARCAÇÃO DO GADO NOS CAMPOS DE PALMAS: 1887 – 1938

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze the brandings of cattle breeders, contained in the Book of Records of the City Council of Palmas – Paraná, between the years 1887 to 1938. When it comes to to the culture of branding, as in other civilizations, landowners sought to identify their animals circumscribing on their hides a unique design coined on an iron bar, and so creating representations capable of referring to an imaginary scenario of violence and / or symbolic power exerted in the South-Center region in the State of Paraná. The Brazilian historiography has already approached the subject intensely, however, focusing on the northern region of Brazil. In the south, there is little information about the matter, being restrict for just one context - the cattle raising. Most historiographical productions have reproduced the brandings as a visual aspect; relating it to the trajectories of local landlords, traditional families that chose to continue the culture of branding. Some northeastern authors intensively highlighted the brands of cattle and their use in daily life, producing sources of extreme importance for History. Thus, with the methodological use of the analysis of written sources, these documents were explored, problematizing the discussion about the region that didn‟t have its boundaries defined Branded with iron and fire, the spread of this culture wrapped in a dominant relationship determined a model of life and economy in Campos de Palmas, preserved in the popular imaginary and in historiography.