As concepções do espaço natural presente nos jornais belenenses do final do século XIX (1898-1900)

Abstract

The discussions about the environment and its relations with society have gained importance day by day. Throughout the process of modernization and reorganization of the city of Belém we observe different relations and meanings attributed to the natural environment by the various segments of society. This paper represents an attempt to broaden the views on this theme as it seeks to understand the notions and the space reserved to nature by Belen's newspapers in the midst of urban transformations in the late nineteenth century (1898-1900), as well as to identify and compare among themselves the approaches of Belen's newspapers regarding the perception of nature, and to identify and analyze the ways in which the official press organs convince and consolidate their perceptions about the natural environment in society. Based on the assumption that newspapers are important consensus-forming instruments among the city's population, this project starts from the documental analysis of the newspapers present in the Arthur Vianna Public Library "A Folha do Norte", "A Província do Pará" and "Diário de Notícias" from 1898 to 1900, questioning the documentation about the multiple meanings attributed to the natural environment by public managers, municipal authorities, literati, journalists, small vendors and merchants, and poor residents of the city at the end of the 19th century. The references to the natural environment are present between the lines of the pages of Belen's newspapers. They are in the novelized literature, in the authorities' discourse, in the frequent problems of urban settlement. In the modernization process of the city of Belém, nature assumes several meanings. At the same time that it is positivized by the official discourse - propagated by literary journalists, municipal and government authorities - due to its distinctly Amazonian exuberance, inside the city it is considered an obstacle to the urban project by public managers and, therefore, needs to be purged for the implementation of a new city model. In the midst of this process, other meanings attributed to nature by the poorest residents, such as subsistence and leisure, become apparent.