THE RAILROAD AND THE CARIRI VALLEY: SOME USES AND DISCOURSES ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE RAILWAY IN THE CARIRI AREA

Abstract

Since the late nineteenth century, the Cariri region in the south of the state of Ceará was identified as an outstandingly fertile space with lavish nature and landscapes easily associated with the idea of an earthly paradise. Its green aspect in the presence of the Chapada do Araripe was often exalted in speeches, local newspapers and speeches made by intellectuals and politicians linked to Ceara as well as the Cariri region, more specifically. However, far from being restricted to this fact, the idea of a Cariri with evergreen landscapes and extraordinarily fertile land was also forged in the context of social relations and disputes, such as trying to attract to this space the rails of the Baturité Railway. In this sense, the discourses that presented the Cariri region like an oasis in the midst of a dryland has a historical perspective, which permeated the green landscapes of the foothills of the Araripe, but also permeated disputes over the railway