The Bearded Monks Movement: Monk João Maria's representations and reinterpretations as the identity process of cabocla culture

Abstract

The Monks João Maria D' Agostini and João Maria de Jesus were characters in the history of the cabocla resistance in the South of the country, at the beginning of the 20th century. Despite being the strongest presence in the Contestado Movement, their doctrine, however, was widely diffused and over signified several times according to the historical and social context. This is what occurs in the Bearded Monks Movement in the 1930 decade in Coloninha, Soledade region, Rio Grande do Sul, where a group of caboclos used Monk João Maria's doctrine and "authority" to provide identity and to produce resistance. We discuss the context in which this Movement happened, its progress and, above all, how this social group built identification processes with Monk João Maria's doctrine, rescuing, even after more than two decades of the Contestado Movement, the Holy Monk's figure and  doctrine in organizing a social and religious movement.