A seca é o inverno de muita gente

Abstract

The present work aims to analyze the consequences of the 1932 drought over the population of Jacobina and the region around, understanding how the drought disrupted the life of the country people, imposing the rural productive system collapse, forcing, mainly the most deprived population to resort to several ways of survival, among those ways , the feeding diet adaptation, it been necessary the use of seeds and wild roots to satisfy their hungry, besides the immigration and mining in the hills of Jacobina. Besides, this work analyses how the local power relations were built with the federal and estate sphere, and these with the population, with the aim of perceive how the population was assisted during the shortage period. The government, based on ideas of modernity and work, sought to enlist resources for the construction of large works, by means of which, the country people were used as cheap manpower. At the same time the poorest population was penalized by the consequences of the drought, local politicians appropriated the resources intended for the country people for their own benefit, showing that all were not as susceptible to drought. From the analysis of the local and regional press, work with the newspapers O Lidador, Correio de Bonfim e Correio do Sertão, we aimed to comprehend the way that the news about the drought were transmitted, reinforcing the country people image as “victim of the nature”, in certain moments as the interest of the periodicals looking for to get funds. Through the História Oral we dialogued with narrators that shared with us their remembering about the times of need imposed by the drought and tactics adopted to confront it.