Blacks and browns in health care institutions in Rio de Janeiro (1850-1919): a study of the mad and poor

Abstract:

The paper focuses on the presence of non-whites people in the traditional institutions for the poor, specifically the population assisted in the hospitals for the insane in the city and state of Rio de Janeiro, from the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. The main paper argument is that the sociocultural and racial profile of patients from the researched institutions is linked to the characteristics of the society in which they are located - notably the process of abolition of slavery. The paper develops an overview of poverty assistance and its relationship with the changes that have taken place in the city of Rio de Janeiro; from the scientific discourse of the Bahian physician Juliano Moreira in his effort to remove the stigmas of race and degeneration as causes of mental illness from Brazilian society. Finally, the overview of the change of the racial profile of the public attended at the care institutions in Rio de Janeiro, from 1850 to 1919, especially at the Hospício de Pedro II and, later, at the Hospício Nacional de Alienados, in addition to the Misericórdias do Rio de Janeiro and Valença and the Hospício attached of the Hospital São João Batista in Niterói.

Keywords:
Public Relief; Insane; Race