Societas Sceleris. Cangaço and the formation of bands in the sertão of Pernambuco, Brazil

Abstract

The words cangaço and cangaceiro are necessarily polysemic in the social field in which they are produced. Paradoxically, both the literature on the subject and the common sense view of those who are not experts use those words only in reference to the movement whose leader was the bandit known as Lampião. Many books and articles on the subject have produce reports about the life of Lampião, but none of them describe with enough accuracy the social environment in which Lampião was embedded. The systematic study of kinship, of conflicts among kin groups, and of the coalescence of these groups with state institutions was virtually discarded. This perspective obscures the perception of Lampião as one case among many in his time. It also makes difficult the comprehension of the relations among bands, the modes of membership in them, as well as the forms of articulation with the police, justice, and politics, and how all of this contributes to the making of new cangaceiros.