Abstract

CAMPOS, Roberta Bivar C.. Utopia e sociabilidade: imagens de sofrimento e caridade no Juazeiro do Norte. Rev. Antropol. [online]. 2003, vol.46, n.1, pp. 211-250. ISSN 0034-7701.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-77012003000100005.

This article provides a discussion on how images of charity are related to an ideal image of society - a Utopia. By going deeper into the relation between images of suffering, poverty and mendicancy I explore how a group of penitents ''the Ave de Jesus'' from Juazeiro Norte creates a sociality based on generosity, hospitality and sharing whereby they realise a messianic expectation. The major argument leads to a more general discussion of the bases of social life, the material on the Ave de Jesus serving to stress the significance of sociality based on charity and a whole complex organized around it that challenges some classical athropological theory on gift-reciprocity.

Keywords : gift; moral sentiments; messianic expectation.