The vandals in north Africa: an analysis of Victor of Vita's literary work

• Grant number: 12/09138-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): November 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Norberto Luiz Guarinello
• Grantee: Eduardo Polidori Villa Nova de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This proposal for research we are presenting aims to analyze Victor of Vita's Historia Persecutionis Africanae Provinciae as a discourse built on social, political, and religious values that directly influenced the author's narrative about the persecution of Nicene Christians in both Gaiseric and Huneric reigns in North Africa. Our study purpose intends to comprehend the methods used by the author to describe the episodes he is concerned about along with rhetorical constructions, spatial and temporal perceptions, his own intellectual presuppositions, and other peculiarities. The historiographical debate in which Historia Persecutionis lies doesn't matter in just knowing something about the vandals and their history, nor how the barbarian invaders destroyed the Roman Empire. Historia Persecutionis has been largely appropriated as clear and unquestionable evidence of the "natural" antagonism between civilized Romans and brutal barbarians. Lastly, our purpose indirectly touches on the usage of historical sources in the construction of modern political discourses.(AU)