Da lata d’água ao SESP : tensões e constrangimentos de um processo civilizador no Sertão do Rio Doce (1942-1960)

Abstract

The starting point of this thesis was the hypothesis that the Special Public Health Service (SESP) was the bearer of a civilizing proposal, which embodied constraints and tensions inherent in this type of process. This issue was discussed based on the contributions of Norbert Elias’s ideas, that is, from his understanding of civilizational change as 'change in behavior and feelings' through the implementation of new habits and daily practices. As this workresearch field, we define the speeches and actions of the SESP, expressed by itself as well as others, by its former employees’ and former residents’memories in the city of Governador Valadares. For some, this ‘civilizing' process would be something pertaining the moment (modern life) and should be accepted without major problems; for others, on the contrary, the SESP project brought certain cultural constraint against which resistance forces would be mobilized. We assumed to clarify these meanings the actions and speeches of both specialized groups and the people assisted by the program, using categorical concepts of Koselleck such as 'space of experience "and" horizon of expectations'. These conceptual categories deal with historical time and contributed to unveil the SESP’s frame of action, especially when keeping in mind the experience in the Vale do Rio Doce. The matter would not be the SESP in itself, but the dynamics of its actions. The first objective of this thesis was to understand the meanings of the speeches received in the social and cultural relations in the Rio Doce Valley scenery, which outlined the actions of the SESP. Our intention was to show that the medical and health performance of the SESP in the Valley of the Rio Doce forged new patterns of health behavior and individual and collective conducts, as well as other aspects of daily life of the population. In addition, it achieved the immediate goal for which it was created – as a tool of the 'war effort’ – which was the Vargas goal of consolidating and strengthening the presence of public services in this region. In other words, the State presence was built, but with it the SESP laid the foundation for a new territorial configuration. Here we find the transformation of urban and rural areas followed by the establishment of new political and cultural relations in which many actors with different knowledge and practices were interrelated. The study on the dynamics of the SESP's actions in the Middle Rio Doce was also an effort to understand how the scientific health discourse was spread. The basis for this would be anchored in changes in existing health and sanitation practices and in the way new practices had been incorporated into everyday life by both people who made use of the SESP’s services as well as those who did not. That is, the way people had taken part in these practices and how they had given them a new meaning. The approach to these unique local aspects, after all, was permeated by a close relation to broader aspects, interests and circumstances.