The "undesirables" in the city: images of escapers from drought (Natal, 1890-1930)

Abstract

Droughts’ phenomenon has been a constant subject on Brazilian history, mainly in the component states of the denominated "polígono das secas" (a vast region scourged constantly by long periods without rain). For a long time, northeastern political and economical elite, by evidencing and dramatizing the phenomenon on its speeches, converted it into the main cause of migratory process, from interior to more important urban centers, whether politically or economically. Beyond studies on migration, this paper aims to discuss how the presence of escapers from drought was interpreted on so called civilized urban spaces, mainly Natal, during the political period known as First Republic (1889-1930). Intending to create an Europeanized modern city on tropics, those elite saw and read the migrants as a hindrance to urban hygiene and to their image of modernity.