For an Engaged and Digital History in the CAPS

2001-2022

Abstract

This article addresses two intertwined challenges, which are dealt with concurrently. The first pertains to the field of the History of Madness and Mental Health in Brazil, under the expectation of work ethically engaged with the principles of Psychiatric Reform and the Anti-Asylum Movement. The second challenge highlights the importance of endorsing historiographical practices relevant to the field of Applied or Engaged History and Digital History. The goal is to broaden our perceptions of the possibilities for the historian’s work and, most importantly, to contribute to the society in which we live. To this end, the work was developed in partnership with social movements involved in the Anti-Asylum Movement, based on a context of university research and extension, by identifying and addressing the demands of communities outside the university: professionals, users, and families of users of a Psychosocial Care Center IV (CAPS IV) in the city of Fortaleza-CE. The challenge, therefore, was to construct interpretations and analyses of the past (based on medical records produced between 2001 and 2022), but with prospects for the present and future. To think of forms of proactive, engaged, and applied History, committed, therefore, to social change.