Os sertões has been amply discussed in various fields of interpretation in Brazil, be it in literature, sociology, anthropology or history. This article aims to demonstrate that the means of characterization of the social existence of the peasant from the arid countryside has turned this work of Euclides da Cunha's into a landmark in the formation of the social sciences in Brazil. Based on Spencerian evolutionism, the author analyzes the (mis)direction of social change in the country, as a means to contribute towards the reflection on Brazilian socio-cultural singularities.
Euclides da Cunha; social change; arid countryside; conflict; Republic; Brazil