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scarcelyanabstraction.YettheSertão,seeminglydeadattheendofdrought,resurrected
itself, flowered, and became rich with the rains—“nature in love with itself.” This was a
stock metaphor of Northeastern literature, from the simplest cordel 21 to da Cunha's Os
Sertões , and fed the enduring myths of Northeastern resilience.
In a world so lacking in justice, so fickle and so deadly, the idea of utopi-
as—intentional communities of fairness and virtue in life, rather than paradise in
death—had a particularly strong hold in the Northeast. The utopian imagination was de-
rivedfromPortuguese,Catholic,indigenous,andslavetraditions.Theseincludedthere-
workingofmedievalPortugueseSebastianism, thestoryofthereturnofawarriorprince
lost in battle against the infidels at Ceuta (Morocco) in 1578 to install—somewhere—a
regime of righteousness and a new Jerusalem. This myth certainly resonated with the
dreams and desires of the oppressed and has become an enduring metaphor in Brazilian
politics. 22 The strands of loss, suffering, and utopian renewal also fit within the prac-
ticesoffolkprophecyandtheJesuiticutopianismof“CitiesoftheSun”whoseChristian
communalism and syncretic practices stretched throughout the Bahian Sertão. Indigen-
ous myths of “Lands without Evil” with roving messiahs and pilgrimages envisioned
places of refuge and abundance. 23 Black syncretic beliefs and rites incorporated indi-
genous and Catholic spiritualism into religious practices with African roots; a complex
millenarianism had always been part of the New World African cultural dynamic. 24
The late nineteenth century produced scores of millenarian movements in native so-
cieties in Brazil and elsewhere. 25 Some included elements of prophecy, as Indian pop-
ulations tried to adapt to a more pervasive integration into emergent modern economies
and the definitive transformation of their ways of life. 26 In Mexico, the Tomochic mil-
lenarian uprising had striking parallels with that of Canudos, including charismatic folk
prophets, indigenous populations (Tarahumara and Yaqui), valiant “bandit” fighters, and
accusations of fanaticism and monarchism, and it likewise ended in a complete destruc-
tion of the town. 27 In the United States, the Ghost Dance religion that began in 1890
(andproducedthemassacreatWoundedKnee)reflectedasimilarphenomenon. 28 These
revealed deep structural economic change, the rise of new power relations, and signific-
ant modifications in access to resources, traditional territories, and native landscapes of
identity.
The threads of these different millenarian traditions—Catholic, native, and Afric-
an—were significant parts of Canudos practices and legends. Modern historiography of
the place reflects the rise of Marxist, subaltern, and moral economy approaches to rural
studies that focus on deep inequalities and cultural mechanisms supporting precarious
livelihoods in order to refute the perception of Canudos as a place of “religious fanat-
icism” and atavistic irrationalism. 29 Da Cunha's framing of canudenses as superstitious
zealots reflects his (and the more general coastal) arguments about modern rationality
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