Souza-Araújo e a construção de um projeto: o combate a lepra pela segregação dos leprosos (1916 - 1924)

The physician Heráclides César de Souza-Araújo, from the southern Brazilian state of Paraná, was a prominent figure in the fight against leprosy in the country, beginning in 1916, a year after graduating from the Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Medicine. Souza-Araújo defended a prophylactic model based on the compulsory isolation of lepers, which was proposed and supported by a number Doi: 10.5212/Rev.Hist.Reg.v.25i2.0011 * Doutoranda em História pela Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná. E-mail: silviaschneider15@ yahoo.com.br. ** Doutora em História pela PUC/SP. Professora Associada da Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná. Bolsista de Produtividade em Pesquisa do CNPq. E-mail: yonissa.wadi@unioeste.br. Souza-Araújo e a construção de um projeto: o combate a lepra pela segregação dos ... Revista de História Regional 25(2): 488-521, 2020 Disponível em: 489 of renowned scientists, such as Oswaldo Cruz. Although he originally intended to establish his program to combat leprosy in the state of Paraná, his plans were eventually implemented in the northern Brazilian state of Pará, where he helped to found the country’s first agricultural colony for lepers, in 1924. The present study explores the configuration of Souza-Araújo’s prophylactic model and his quest for social legitimization, following his trajectory through the analysis of texts published in the A República newspaper in Curitiba – Paraná, official documents and the book Lazarópolis do Prata: the first agricultural leper colony founded in Brazil, published in 1924, in which the author describes the implementation of his prophylactic program in the state of Pará.