Entre arquivos, instituições e a rua: a história da psicologia no Ceará nos séculos XVIII, XIX e XX

Abstract

This research is an exploratory qualitative study in the field of the History of Psychology, aiming to investigate the institutionalization of psychology in Ceará between the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. From the perspectives of Local History and the History of Psychological Knowledge, the study examines local initiatives and actors that contributed to the development of the discipline in the region. Institutionalization is understood as the process through which a practice, idea, or concept becomes integrated into an established organizational or social system, creating norms, rules, and formal structures that sustain and perpetuate it. In addition to "institutionalization," key concepts analyzed include "disciplinarization," "psychological ideas," and "knowledge circulation." Using Documentary Research and Analysis as a methodology, this study examines primary sources such as newspapers, compendiums, reports, and legislation to identify actors and processes that influenced the development of psychology in Ceará. The dissertation is structured into four parts. The first addresses theoretical, methodological, and conceptual aspects (Chapter 1), presenting the main concepts and research methodology. The second explores the presence of psychology in institutions, tracing its development from Jesuit education in Portugal through the 1772 reform of the University of Coimbra statutes to 19th-century institutions in Ceará, highlighting the influence of the Brazilian central government and the Imperial Colégio Pedro II (Chapters 2, 3, and 4). The third examines the public debate on psychology, analyzing key elements that contributed to the circulation of psychological knowledge outside institutional environments, particularly through Cearense intellectual groups (Chapters 5 and 6). The fourth part (Chapter 7) analyzes the role of the Escola Normal do Ceará in the institutionalization of psychology in the region. Among the study's main contributions is the identification of Jesuit education's role in the colonial period, with the Hospício de Aquiraz as an early center for disseminating psychological ideas, and the impact of the 18th-century Pombaline Reforms, which reorganized Portugal's educational system and granted psychology a new academic status within the philosophical statutes of the University of Coimbra. This influence extended to Ceará, where institutions such as the Liceu, the Seminário da Prainha, and the Ginásio Cearense were crucial for psychology's development as a field of study, with the latter being the first to incorporate the discipline into its curriculum in 1872. Beyond formal institutions, the study highlights the role of literary associations and periodicals in disseminating and legitimizing psychological knowledge in society, with figures like Farias Brito significantly contributing to the institutionalization and circulation of psychology in Ceará. Finally, the research examines the importance of the Escola Normal do Ceará in the transition from 19th-century philosophical psychology to an applied and scientific psychology, which gained prominence in the 20th century. In this context, the study demonstrates how the 19th-century intellectual legacy was fundamental to the consolidation and institutionalization of psychology as an autonomous and scientific discipline, both in Ceará and in the broader Brazilian context of the 20th century.