"Donde se avista o caminho da roça": José Bernardino Bormann e a colônia militar do Xapecó

Abstract

The Chapecó Military Colony was created in 1859 and established in 1882 around the area of the province of Paraná, in a place called Campina do Xanxerê, and - until 1898 - José Bernardino Bormann was the director in charge. The Colony was created for the protection of the territory and its inhabitants, due to the ongoing territorial conflict with Argentina. We chose to build a reflection focused on the Social and Agrarian History, although not disregarding political, geopolitical and economic factors. Thus, the present work aims to analyze the construction of a social and political space by the Brazilian military, and the population that lived at the Military Colony and surrounding area, contributing to the foundation and maintenance of this military core. A qualitative research supported by content analysis under the perspective of Laurence Bardin was the methodology chosen. The research relies on a diversified set of documentary resources such as: the Reports of the Ministers of War and those of the Province of Paraná, the Decrees for the creation of military colonies, the Land Law and the statements carried out by the directors of such a Colony. Furthermore, José Bernardino Bormann's summaries, the book “Centenary of Marshal Bormann” and “Fratricidal Days: Memories of the Federalist Revolution in the State of Paraná” written by Bormann himself, as well as the 1890 Demographic Census of the District of Palmas were also used in the analysis. We concluded that the establishment of Military Colonies in the Brazilian borders was categorized as a demonstration of power as well as an exercise of power within the region. In the years when Bormann was in charge of the Chapecó Military Colony, although he exercised a managerial autonomy over the territory, a financial autonomy was never achieved. Social isolation, the political and economic context and the delay in issuing definitive land documents to the colonists were factors that contributed to the slow development of the colonial area. The absence of definitive documents on the land plots generated several usucaption processes. Contrastingly, there was – and still is – a policy that valuates the memory of José Bernardino Bormann in the municipality of Chapecó, due to the political, military and intellectual aspects of his life.