“Retórica da Epidemia”: discursos, negociações e tensões políticas que orbitavam o uso da mão-de-obra indígena no Grão-Pará, 1748-1750

Abstract

Between 1748 and 1750, the Grão-Pará captaincy in the state of Maranhão experienced a pandemic that affected the indigenous population. In this temporal interval a series of correspondences exchanged between different colonial agents and the metropolis, with the intention of exposing the impacts caused by
the disease. The argumentations were generated speeches brought in a set of political tensions that involved administrators, residents, religious and the Crown. Our article intends to advance the analysis of the construction of the “retórica da epidemia” and the fights between different projects for the exploitation of indigenous labor, on the one hand, defenders the intensification of indigenous slavery and, on the other hand, those who bet on the insertion of other contingents of workers.