As escritas de uma vida: Discursos sobre a cangaceira Maria Bonita (1930-1938)

Abstract

Maria Gomes de Oliveira, known as Maria Bonita, participated in the cangaço between the years 1930 to 1938. Around her, I take my look, a look that can only be seen through the eyes of the many others who wrote and discussed about her. This dissertation, therefore, proposes to analyze the discourses about the cangaceira Maria Bonita, concerning her sexuality, criminality, beauty and bravery aspects, attributes that are conferred to her by memorialists, cordel literature writers and through journalistic discourses. To try to understand the universe in which cangaço women lived, I will also discuss the Sertão as a masculinizing space of hostility towards women. I analyze cordel literature, newspapers and books from specialists in cangaço, and I realized that the many discourses about Maria Bonita are related and seek to apprehend and build a meaning for femininity. By this research, I intend to contribute to the history of women and shed light on how the speeches formulated on the cangaceira Maria Bonita reinforce places of subordination for women, even when they try to show her as a strong woman and a warrior.