“Here in the Leprosarium we had a profession”: narratives that intertwine education, civilization, and experiences with disease

Abstract

This article analyzes the narratives of individuals who experienced compulsory isolation at the Antônio Aleixo leprosarium, in Manaus/AM, between 1942 and 1978, focusing on experiences of basic schooling and vocational education within this context. It begins from the historical problem of stigmatization associated with Hansen’s disease and its effects on the social organization of the Colony, understood as a social figuration marked by relations of interdependence, control, and adaptation, in light of Norbert Elias (1990; 1994). Methodologically, the study is based on narrative interviews conducted with 24 former inmates, selected through community nomination, whose accounts were analyzed using thematic analysis procedures. The results indicate that schooling simultaneously performed functions of sociability, discipline, and preparation for work, revealing relational dimensions between educational inclusion and institutional mechanisms regulating conduct. Vocational education, predominantly organized through short-term, non-structuring qualification courses, functioned both as a possibility for social insertion and as a strategy for the productive and moral organization of the inmates. The study contributes to the social history of vocational education by demonstrating how educational practices in contexts of isolation produced specific forms of subjectivation, work, and social belonging.