Operários têxteis em Fortaleza: condições de vida e tuberculose (1930 – 1958)

Abstract

The present research aims to analyze the working and living conditions of the textile working class in Fortaleza, and how these circumstances contributed to tuberculosis among these workers. In this sense, we list three fundamental aspects for the study, namely: 1. the (un)healthy conditions of the capital's textile factories, observing issues ranging from the working hours of these workers to hygiene aspects of the work environment, 2. The eating conditions of the textile working family: how and when did they eat and what did the textile workers eat in Fortaleza? What is the relationship between this (poor) diet and tuberculosis? and 3. The housing conditions of these workers: where did the textile workers live? What were their homes like and why did they encourage people to suffer from consumption? We therefore seek to verify how these aspects were essential for the illness and death of countless workers in Fortaleza, victims of exploitation by employers, hunger and tuberculosis. The time frame of the research begins in 1930, a year marked by numerous political and institutional ruptures, but in the case of Fortaleza there was also an increase in tuberculosis cases and the consolidation of the textile industry. The periodization of the research ends in 1958, when the city's textile industry was in a serious crisis, resulting in the dismissal of countless workers, affecting the triad of elements that we consider essential in tuberculosis illness among this group.