A “macho e fêmea” e a família: Luzia-homem e o sertão cearense

Abstract

This paper is a result of a exercise in sociological fiction which intends to analyze a novel by Domingos Olímpio (a Brazilian novelist), whose title is Luzia-homem , as a source to understand issues relating to the peculiar way how migrants from the arid backlands ( sertanejos ) who arrive to the city in the state of Ceará named Sobral, in the end of the XIX century, use moral markers such as honor, protection, fame, as a social resource for social recognition. This article intends to analyze all these moral markers connected to the family and the way public power handles relations based on them, besides analyzing the differences of social recognition based on family ties for the women and for men