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Paper short abstract:

The premise of this paper is that the exploration of the notions of space and history may help us both clarify the differences between the multiple uses of the hinterlands as a category and problematize the modern contraposition between history and natural sciences.

Paper long abstract:

Despite the long-lasting debate about the notion of hinterlands, it cannot be considered as finished. Spread in several political settings along the colonial period such as, for instance, Portugal, Africa and Brazil, the imprecision of the term seems to be related to the modern contraposition between the scientific and historical categories of what has been understood as space and time. In this sense, it is possible to consider the hypothesis that an investigation of what was understood as history in different settings and contexts may help us understand what is conventionally called "hinterlands". The works of Brazilian scholar Oswaldo Lamartine de Faria are a rich material for the examination of the little explored relationships between space and history. The multiple works of Lamartine about the region known as Seridó hinterlands - situated between the territories of the current states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba - enable us both to explore a certain conception of the hinterland category in the middle of the twentieth century and to rethink the comprehensiveness of the concept of history regarding its public uses by considering disciplinary guidelines in modernity. This paper aims to propose a reading focused on the conceptions of history in those works and their links to memory and geography. From the appropriation of those Lamartine's notions, this study intends to advance in the idea of hinterlands proposed in his writings.