The life tree

The work analyzes the construction of scientific knowledge about carnauba in Ceará in the second half of the 19th century. We studied writings of different genres in which the material and economic potential of carnauba was defended. These texts were produced at a time when the carnauba industry was gaining strength, attracting attention from imperial and provincial politics, amidst a clash between subsistence culture and forms of capitalist exploitation. The sertão, before a symbol of scarcity, becomes promising from the potential of material progress of its vegetation and agriculture, that is, the rational use of the land resources. Scientific writing, from the perspective of progress, has timed the carnauba with a past apprehended through rudimentary uses, that is, the burnings and overthrown to which it was targeted; as well as, from its material potentialities, it constitutes a "horizon of expectation" for the province/nation.