O Padre Cícero e a construção da identidade caririense: uma análise através do cordel nordestino

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing how the figure of Father Cicero, as a promoter of a Cariri identity, is represented in northeastern cordel literature. The research starts on the hypothesis that the northeastern cordel, by contributing to the spread of a mythologized image of Father Cicero, contributed to the production of references with which people from Cariri erected their self-image. Based on theorists such as Stuart Hall, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Joël Candau and Maurice Halbwachs, among others, this work discusses aspects of identity formation, including the importance of the collective memory in this process. These theoretical considerations allow for a more objective analysis of the cordels which were selected as the corpus of the work, through which it is investigated, for example, the strategies employed by the cordel authors with the aim of contributing to the popular "canonization" of Father Cicero, including therein the association of the priest to Jesus Christ. In this context, it is shown how the cordel works on a pari passu basis with a collective memory, encouraging an imaginary which mythicizes the figure of Father Cicero as well as of Cariri, where he exercised his pastoral ministry and his political action.