Psychological Knowledge and Practices in Brazilian Colonial Culture (Latin American Voices)

This book examines the complexities of the colonization of the territory that is now Brazil and its shaping of psychological knowledge and practice. It reveals the rich network of cultural practices that were formed through the appropriation of elements of Jesuit Catholicism and the blending with elements of the cultures of native, African and Lusitanian populations present in the territory, and how psychological concepts and practices emerged and circulated between the sixteenth and the late eighteenth centuries, long before the establishment of psychology as a modern science. The volume summarizes the research program developed by the author over 38 years of academic activity through which she contributed to expand the field of historical studies in psychology by investigating how psychological concepts and practices were produced in cultural and historical contexts different from the European and North American societies where scientific psychology developed in the 19 th and 20 th centuries. Psychological Knowledge and Practices in Brazilian Colonial Culture will be of interest not only to historians of psychology, but also to professional psychologists working with culturally diverse populations who seek to understand how psychological concepts and phenomena are shaped by culture. By doing so, the book intends to contribute to the development of a psychology better prepared to deal with cultural diversity in an increasingly multicultural world. “Massimi’s book will now form an important foundation of English-language scholarship about the psychological and cultural impact of colonization on subjugated peoples. She has, of course, made many such contributions in Portuguese. It is to be hoped that much of her work will be translated into English so that more scholars may benefit from the richness of her insights.” – Excerpt from the Foreword by Dr. Wade E. Pickren. Preface of the Series Editor Psychology as an Historical Cultural Product Foreword Acknowledgments Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Objects and Objectives of This Book 1.2 The Mestizo Character of Brazilian Culture 1.3 The Historical Reconstruction Method 1.3.1 Object Definition: The Psychic Apparatus 1.3.2 The Sources 1.3.2.1 Criteria for the Analysis of Sources Cultural Appropriation The Literary Genres Articulation Between ‘Universe of Thought’ and ‘Universe of Practices’ Regimes of Historicity The Authors and Their Traditions of Belonging Orality and Writing References Chapter 2: The Conimbric Treaties: The Transmission of the Psychological Knowledge of the West, in the Land of Santa Cruz 2.1 The History of Treaties 2.2 The Elaboration of the Scientia de Anima 2.3 The Psychic Apparatus in the Body Complex: Humors and Temperaments 2.4 The Sensitive Life and Its Dimensions 2.5 The Appetites 2.5.1 Sensitive Appetites 2.5.2 Intellectual Appetites 2.6 The Cognitive Powers 2.7 Conclusion References Primary Sources Secondary Sources Chapter 3: Psychological Knowledge and Narratives of Experiences in Epistolary Correspondence 3.1 Premise: The Specificity of the Epistolary Genre and the Jesuit Letters 3.2 Brazil as the Object of the Petition in the Indipetae Letters 3.2.1 The Genre Indipetae and Its Authors 3.2.2 Psychological Dimensions of Indipeta 3.2.2.1 “Sentir um desejo grande de ir ao Brasil” 3.2.2.2 “La qual mission es para el Brasil”: the goal, object of imagination and affection 3.3 The “Indies of There” That Become Close 3.3.1 Those Sent to Brazil 3.3.2 The Practice of Writing Letters 3.4 Missionary Letters: Psychological Experiences as Part of the Experience 3.4.1 The Psychological Experiences 3.4.1.1 The Senses and Its Dimensions in the Experience of the Jesuits 3.4.1.2 The Appetites (Sensitive and Intelligible) Experienced by the Jesuits 3.5 Conclusion References Primary Sources Secondary Sources Chapter 4: Challenging Alterity: The Process of Building Knowledge of the Indigenous Peoples Psychological Characteristics 4.1 The Sensory Powers of the Indians 4.2 The Appetites (Sensitive and Intelligible) of Indians 4.3 The Affects of the Indians 4.4 Cognitive Powers in Indians 4.5 Importance of the Word and Sociability Among the Natives 4.6 The Temporality Experience by the Authors of Letters and the Representation of Indians in this Perspective 4.7 Conclusion References Primary Sources Secondary Sources Chapter 5: Psychological Knowledge in Educational Treaties 5.1 The Person as to Become and Education as a Process, from the Perspective of the Luso-Brazilian Jesuit Alexandre de Gusmão and the Society of Jesus 5.1.1 Education from a Jesuit Perspective 5.1.2 The Importance of the First Years of Life 5.1.3 The Dimensions of Psychic Dynamism 5.1.3.1 The Sensory Power 5.1.3.2 The Cognitive Powers 5.1.3.3 The Punishment and the Playing 5.2 In the Wake of the Jesuits: Education and Individual Psychic Abilities by Manoel de Andrade de Figueiredo 5.2.1 The Human Being in Becoming and the Educational Process 5.3 A Conceptual Twist: The Tratado de Educação Física dos Meninos (Treaty on the Physical Education of the Children) of Francisco de Mello Franco and the Proposal of Medicine as an Integral Science of Man 5.3.1 The Proposal of a New Vision of Man and Medicine as the Science of Man 5.3.2 The Education and Psychic Development of Children 5.3.3 The Dimensions of Psychic Dynamism 5.3.3.1 The Senses 5.3.3.2 The Hygiene of Appetites and Passions 5.3.3.3 Temperament and Education 5.3.3.4 Hygiene and Public Policies 5.4 Conclusion References Primary Sources Secondary Sources Chapter 6: Psychological Knowledge in Novels of Pilgrimage 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Brief Description of the Contents of the Two Novels 6.3 The Conception of Psychic Dynamism in Gusmão’s Novel 6.4 The Sickening of the Soul in Gusmão’s Novel 6.5 The Conception of Psychic Dynamism in Marques Pereira’s Novel 6.6 The Senses 6.6.1 Sensitive and Intellectual Appetites 6.7 The Cognitive Powers 6.8 The Practices of Care and Cure of the Psychic Apparatus: The Cure by Desengano in Gusmão’ Novel 6.9 The Practices of Care and Cure of the Psychic Apparatus in Pereira’s Novel 6.10 Conclusion References Primary Sources Secondary Sources Chapter 7: Word, True Pharmacon of Bodies and Souls 7.1 The Psychological Dimension of the Word 7.2 A Successful Process of Cultural Hybridization 7.3 The Dissemination of Preaching Practice in Brazilian Territory and Its Actors 7.4 Preaching and Psychological Knowledge: A Laboratory of Experimentation of the Power of the Word in Brazil 7.4.1 The Preacher as Doctor of the Soul 7.5 The Psychic Apparatus and the Body (Individual and Political): Humors and Temperaments 7.6 Sensory Apparatus 7.6.1 External Senses and Words 7.6.2 Inner Feelings and Words 7.7 Appetites (Sensitive and Intelligible) 7.8 The Cognitive Powers 7.8.1 Reason and Judgment 7.8.2 Understanding 7.9 Conclusion References Primary Sources Secondary Sources Chapter 8: Psychological Knowledge in Autobiographical Works and Essays by Brazilian Authors 8.1 The Genres of Autobiographical Writing 8.2 The Evils of the Soul and the Writing as a Remedy in the Texts of Two Siblings Matias Aires Ramos da Silva de Eça and Teresa Margarida da Silva and Orta 8.2.1 The Evil of the Spirit and the Distortions of the Psychic and Spiritual Balance of the Person According to Matias Aires 8.2.2 Writing as a Remedy for the Ills of the Soul in Teresa Margarida da Silva and Orta’s texts 8.3 Writing as a Means of Transmitting Knowledge and Advice for Good Living in Feliciano Joaquim de Sousa Nunes’ Moral-Political Discourses 8.3.1 Wealth Excesses and Personal Dynamism Disorders 8.3.2 Family Relationships and Good Ordering of Personal Psychic Dynamism 8.3.3 Women’s Cognitive Abilities 8.3.4 Friendship 8.4 Conclusion References Primary Sources Secondary Sources Chapter 9: Psychological Knowledge and Cultural Practices 9.1 Celebrations, Plays, and Blending of Indigenous, Portuguese, and African Traditions 9.2 Religious and Civil Festivals and Choreographies in Colonial Brazil 9.3 Psychological Knowledge and Festive Practices 9.3.1 Senses and Feelings 9.3.2 The Appetites (Sensitive and Intelligible) 9.3.3 The Cognitive Powers 9.4 Conclusion References Primary Sources Secondary Sources Chapter 10: Conclusion References Index