Fronteira, mitos e heróis: a criação e apropriação da figura do tenente Antônio João Ribeiro no antigo sul de Mato Grosso

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to analyze the establishment and incorporation of the heroic figure of Lieutenant Antônio João Ribeiro in the south of the former Mato Grosso. In fact, the Paraguayan attack against the Military Colony of Dourados, which led to Antonio's death at the beginning of the Paraguayan War, was a trivial event to the conflict. It remained anonymous until it was recovered by the Brazilian Army in the early decades of the 20th century. The professionalization experienced by the Army in that period is the first step in order to understand the reason why that happened and why the figure of Antônio João was rescued and reintroduced into the present. In the same period, in Mato Grosso, a riot raises for the creation of its identity, through various actions whose aim was to enhance the qualities of the state, particularly the population; entities like IHMT and their publications tried to form an identity for Mato Grosso, unlike the depiction of savagery and wilderness, commonly associated with the region. Hence, characters like Lieutenant Antônio João started being valued and celebrated by the intellect of Mato Grosso, resulting in the consolidation and popularization of the heroic figure of the military. Based on a brief survey about the beginning of the conflict, there is an attempt to narrate the episode of the invasion and the resistance of the garrison, reinforced throughout the century by the supposed existence of a ticket or a phrase used by the military, now widespread and irrevocably accepted. The initiatives to make the military a hero were also analyzed, especially the publications of military-memoirist works by military authors or by those who identified with the institution, and also publications of the traditional Mato Grosso historiography and of the academic universe. The construction of Monumento aos Heróis da Laguna e Dourados (Monument to the Heroes from Laguna and Dourados), in Rio de Janeiro, is also crucial to understand the creation of the myth Antônio João. Finally, it checks certain elements in the incorporation of Lieutenant Antônio João Ribeiro specifically in the municipality of Dourados, presented in the speech about its historical formation, throughout the 20th century, through the analysis of identifying elements, for example, specific publications about Dourados, by laws, protocols of associations, the construction of monuments. Thus, it will be possible to understand the ownership of the hero Antônio João in the town of Dourados, in the state of Mato Grosso.