A morte e a morte de Maria José: o mundo de trauma, abdicação e luta de uma mulher negra em hospícios e manicômios da cidade do Rio de Janeiro (1966-1976)

Abstract

Maria José das Dores Silva was a young black woman, mother, poor and peripheral, who from 1966 to 1976 was in psychiatric asylum institutions in Rio de Janeiro under diagnosis of schizophrenia. Only in 2019 was there access to documentation about her case. Seeking to understand the oblivion that Maria José suffered after spending the last 10 years of her life in hospices, this dissertation aims to establish the possibility of a funeral rite for her family through historical research. Understanding her as a victim of traditional policies of psychosocial coercion, solidified by Brazil’s conservative and authoritarian political culture, is a key step in defending the justice and memory that the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform intends, aiming at not forgetting to not repeat painful stories like that.