Suicides motivated by the Second World War in the State of Rio de Janeiro according to newspapers from this state (1939-1945)

• Grant number: 20/12734-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2021
• End date: August 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Tania Regina de Luca
• Grantee: Douglas Henrique de Souza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Suicide, a recurrent practice, instigates the views of different types of knowledge that investigate its origins and causes. In this field, it is common to refer to factors from the context of insertion and subjective perspective of the individuals, however, there are several doubts concerning the cause of the phenomenon, which stimulated by extreme situations of the human condition and is attributed to desperation and the attempt to escape from existential adversities. On the other hand, its origin did not rely on a single reason, but in a chain of events that culminate in the final act, i.e. leading to death. Considering the referred complexity, this research aims to analyze suicide attempts and those that happened in the State of Rio de Janeiro, reported from 1939 to 1945 in eight newspapers, whose declared reasons consisted of the effects of the Second World War. The tenebrous events surrounding Europe during the conflict were reported by the press pages of other continents and produced uncertainty about the future, in addition to imposing drastic changes in many human lives, forcing the people to leave the Old Continent, and comes to Brazil with their traumas of persecutions. In the State of Rio de Janeiro, a cosmopolitan federal capital, the press, subordinated to the dictatorship of the Estado Novo, registered the cases of suicide attempts, mostly carried out by immigrants and whose motivation was associated, directly or indirectly, to the context of the war. The challenge of the work is to identify who the suicides were, the way they were illustrated in the newspapers, besides to evaluate the impact of the situation faced in the decision to kill themselves. (AU)