The writing in the Psychico Center of Caetité, Bahia: functions and uses (1905-1930)

Abstract

This work sought to identify and analyze the types and functions of writing in the Psychic Center of Caetité, Bahia, in the first decades of the twentieth century. It is thus inserted in a set of studies that seek to understand the role of religious instances in the literacy of the population. The studies carried out in the field of cultural history, written culture and the history of education which guided the research theoretically and methodologically. The documentary sources, especially those that are in the file of the institution, enable its development. The Center was founded in 1905 by a group of men belonging to the city's economic, political, social and cultural elite. The research results showed that the institution maintained intense production of written materials, which were produced by writing both handwritten and printed, using various media, such as minutes, letters, newspaper and others. This writing dealt with two dimensions: the spiritual, performing the mediumship, social assistance and homeopathic functions; and the daily, which was directed to the demands of the institution and its members expressed through civil and personal, normative functions, formation of networks of publications between the periodical and administrative. Thus, the Center contributed, above all, to the spiritist doctrine, as well as to approach and intensify the contact of the adepts with the written culture.