THE COMBAT TO LEPROSY IN CEARÁ: THE LEPROSY BODY AMONG KNOWLEDGE AND POWERS

Abstract

This essay seeks to explore the multiple understandings of how the medical community in
Fortaleza, Ceará, with state sanction, worked with those infected with leprosy during the final
decades of the XIX century and early decades of the XX century. During this period the ill
were submitted to various forms of treatment, dietary regimens and other forms of
intervention over their bodies, in the name of protecting the healthy citizens of the capital city.