O Rio Grande do Norte de (sobre)nomes Albuquerque Maranhão (1892-1913)

Abstract

The present article, whose theme is the toponymic imaginary and spatialities in Rio Grande do Norte, aims to analyze the interests and the imaginary that characterize the nominative and legitimizing process of the Albuquerque Maranhão family organization between the years of 1892 and 1913. For the construction of our object we examined state laws and decrees; municipal resolutions; newspaper articles; the local cartography and historiography connected to this specific toponymic imaginary. The examination of the sources was conducted through a theoretical-methodological framework based on the history of the political imaginary through Cornelius Castoriadis and Maria Dick. The performed analyses concerning the (de)nominative practices helped to understand how the Albuquerque Maranhão family organization made use of the political power it held for more than twenty years to perpetuate itself in the memory of the spatiality of Rio Grande do Norte.