Entre o Estado, o Mercado e a Dádiva : a distribuição da assistência a partir das irmandades da Santa Casa de Misericórdia nas cidades de Pelotas e Porto Alegre, Brasil, c. 1847 c. 1891

Abstract

This thesis examines, from a comparative perspective, the brotherhoods of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia (Holy House of Mercy) of Pelotas and Porto Alegre in the province of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, between about 1847 and 1891. These brotherhoods were founded by local rich to assist the poor, and were typical institutions of the Portuguese Empire that unlike other European states centered services in a single institution that granted privileges and real support. The foundation of holy houses in those cities is perceived within the larger context of occupation and the formation of the Empire of Brazil, so they are also inventoried in the brotherhoods of Mercy and hospitals founded on national territory. In the thesis an analysis of the actual brotherhoods, which seek to realize their forms of organization, social composition and bureaucratization of services is performed. The center of the discussion is the relationship between these brotherhoods and the three institutions which, in my view, were central in that society, namely the state, the market and the gift. They were organized in the name of charity, but had a close connection with the State, which granted them monopoly over the assistance of general community services, specifically on the burial of the dead.