A Story of the Amusements Of the South of Minas Gerais (1891-1930)

Itajubá, Pouso Alegre and Campanha between the Late Nineteenth Century and the Earle Decades of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

The overall objective of this Master’s study was to conduct historical research on the main amusements that occurred in the southern region of Minas Gerais-Brazil between the last decade of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century (1891-1930), analyzing their representations through the newspapers of the cities of Campanha, Pouso Alegre and Itajubá. At that time, the progress and modernity ideals were in vogue, which influenced the political, economic and cultural circumstances of the region. The methodology applied in this research was a documental analysis on press and a "Study of Amusement" was carried out, which consider temporal excerpt prior to modernity and within its scope, since the new forms of amusement that arose did not immediately replace the prior ones. Were found reference on the religious festivities, the circus walk and theater companies with their comedy performances and dramas, the festivities in the days (carnival celebration and shrovetide) and the railway inauguration. The Press focused these moments, inspired by the ideals of progress and civility and the data obtained from newspapers were impregnated with particular meanings from those who wrote in their pages, where the announcement of amusements were control strategies, but also permeated by contradictions where the old and the new were influenced by each other and were part of the outlook for the future, but with a focus on the traditions and values that persisted in continuing also in the recreational life of those who inhabited the region.