Civilization dimensions in deep Brazil: modernity and tradition in the constitution of the north mineira elite

Abstract

In the historical-figurational perspective of Norbert Elias (1994), change has particularities and forms a triad both with civility and with progress, in a given specific direction. Its function was always well defined: to enable the refinement of behavior and reaffirm the predominance of the Eurocentric epistemological perspective in the development of figurations, in a civilizing crusade. Here, our effort will be to analyze how the settlement of the northern region of Minas Gerais, which took place from 1660 onwards, through the bandeiras and the expansion of livestock, unfolded into a rural and cosmopolitan civilizing action. We will be interested in the analysis of the changes that took place from the civilizing action, in the community habitus, established in reciprocity, characteristic of the consolidated figurations between indigenous people and quilombolas, through the imposition of an individualistic, hierarchical, violent figuration, based on profit. Making use of a specific biography on the subject, we hope, as a result, to understand how this conjuncture resulted in the emergence of an economic-political elite, which institutionalized, became predominant in a region, rural and cosmopolitan, cohabiting modernity and tradition verified in habitus rustic life. On this ground, the civilizing action of the gossip columnist practiced by Lazinho Pimenta and Theodomiro Paulino will take place, responsible for refining the behavior of the regional elite and for a deepening of the civilizing process that, having Montes Claros as its epicenter, spread throughout whole region.

Keywords: Civilizing Process; Elite; Refinement of Behavior.