Palavra, pena e prelo um estudo sobre formação e ações de João Alfredo Corrêa de Oliveira (1855-1889)

Abstract

The study sought to understand the relationship between power and education, using as methodological resource to analyze the trajectory of João Alfredo Corrêa de Oliveira, a man who held several positions, including Minister of the Empire's Business during the period 1870-1875. The objective was to observe the State's intentions when proposing three projects formulated during his administration and which had one point in common, education. To this end, I sought to dialogue with the tensions, conflicts and alliances that were formed in the process of production, presentation and deliberation of the reforms. Investigating the trajectory of this subject made it possible to think about the projects, structuring processes, and modes of operation of the Brazilian State, from which a set of mechanisms aimed at reordering life in common, such as the reform of emancipation of the serf element, the electoral reform, and the reorganization of education, were tried to work. To this end, the analyses focused on the articulations of this ministry with the press, the parliament, and on the international relations established. The definition of the time frame is linked to the period when João Alfredo Côrrea de Oliveira entered the public scene, when he was elected as a deputy for the first time in 1855 and when he finished his last public position in the Empire as President of the Cabinet and Minister of Finance, in 1889. It is important to highlight that the initiatives and projects of this ministry were thought in a network, they were not produced, elaborated and put into practice in isolation, which can be seen in the clashes in the Chamber of Deputies, in the Senate, in the press and in the relations with European countries and with the United States. To carry out these reflections, I selected a set of sources, a collection consisting of the Annals of the House of Representatives and Senate, various printed materials and letters from the Itamaraty Historical Archive. These documents allowed us to think about political, social and educational events, the examination of the subject's experiences and the institutions in which he was involved, as well as to explore relevant points concerning Brazil's relationship with foreign countries. This set of documents also includes letters and biographies of João Alfredo, located in the National Archives, whose analysis allowed us to scrutinize the files of the Secretariat of State for the Affairs of the Empire and aspects of the biographee's trajectory. The official reports helped in the search for a set of signs of the ministerial actions in the field of education. Finally, I invested in the active and passive correspondence of João Alfredo's personal collection and of the institutional sphere, which give visibility to heterogeneous networks in the personal, social and institutional fields. The work with this documental nucleus and bibliography correlated to the problematic highlighted in this research allowed us to perceive the power and knowledge games and the protagonism of certain men in the direction of the Imperial State. From the narrative point of view, I structured the thesis around four chapters, comprising the central issues of the work. I took the subject's trajectory as a resource that made it possible to inquire, discuss and think about the tensions that marked the management of the Imperial State, in the period under focus. Actions formulated and widely debated in the public space that, in the limit, sought to delineate more or less "civilized" parameters to manage the populations through freedom, voting and education.