The Dance Epidemic of Itapagipe

Race, Insanity, and Religion (Salvador, 1882)

Abstract

This paper examines an 1882 event known in Brazilian medical, sociological and psychological literature of the period as the Dance Epidemic of Itapagipe, an area on the outskirts of the city of Salvador, Bahia. The most complete analysis of the incident is that of Raimundo Nina Rodrigues, a physician who taught at the Faculty of Medicine of Bahia. His reading was based on his areas of expertise (or those he began to master) over the course of his career. The scholarly concepts he used in examining the Itapagipe event, such as the madness of crowds, racialism and popular religion, permitted a complex interpretation that went beyond the vague and insufficient analyzes of his time.