History of crimes and violence in Brazil

Mary Del Priore and Angélica Müller examine the roots of crime and violence in Brazil

Sociologists, jurists, anthropologists and psychologists discuss crimes and violence in Brazil over the centuries in a book organized by two historians

“Does violence grow or does our sensitivity about it grow in our society?”, the historians Mary Del Priore and Angélica Müller ask the reader. The constant media bombardment or even personal experiences from each one of us, immersed in our own way in daily violence, does not explain the roots of violence. To achieve a deeper study about this obscure universe, the authors gathered a dense reflection in this collection of essays, published by Editora Unesp.

This book, organized by Del Priori and Müller, helps us think about violence continuity and its various faces. “Several authors are gathered to try to define a set of phenomena of physical, sexual and verbal violence and  try to understand the mechanisms that put them in gear”, the organizers point in the preface. “Historians, sociologists, jurists, anthropologists, and psychologists have studied several cases over the centuries in the history of crimes and violence in Brazil. The guiding line is centered on the idea of how crime and the use of violence have been and are part of our society”.

In this book, crime is understood in a broader terminology, as “a serious offense punishable by law or morality and condemned by conscience”, just as the word ‘violence’ is not restricted to a physical aggression of one person to another. “Violence is considered a strength from a person, a group or a state with the intention of forcing someone/something to achieve something else. Violence and crime are more than synonymous: they are different and sometimes complementary stages of the same process”, Del Priore and Müller write.

Throughout its 16 chapters, each composed of independent articles that orbit the universe of violence, this book does not intend to show a chronology of crimes and violence in Brazil, “but invites readers to reflect on the forms of infractions that have made and are part of our daily lives with hope that society will find new forms of tolerance, coexistence and solidarity.”

About the organizers

Mary Del Priore holds a PhD in History from the University of São Paulo (USP). She taught History at the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) at USP and at Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) in Rio de Janeiro. She published, with Editora Unesp: South of the Body (2009), History of Sport in Brazil (2009), History of the Body in Brazil (2011) and History of Men in Brazil (2013). In 1998, she received the Jabuti and Casa Grande & Senzala awards for the book History of Women in Brazil (1997).

 

Angélica Müller holds a PhD in History from  Université de Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne and a PhD in Social History from the University of São Paulo (USP). She is a professor in the History Institute of the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) and an associate researcher at the Centre d’Histoire Sociale du XXème Siècle at  Université de Paris I. She served as a researcher during the National Truth Commission (2012-2014) .

 

Title: History of crimes and violence in Brazil [História dos crimes e da violência no Brasil]
Organizer: Mary del Priore and Angélica Müller
Number of pages: 485
Format: 16 x 23 cm
ISBN: 978-85-393-0699-2
Rights: worldwide free

Summary