Banca de DEFESA: JÚLIO CÉSAR DANTAS SILVA DE SENA

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : JÚLIO CÉSAR DANTAS SILVA DE SENA
DATE: 02/10/2026
TIME: 15:00
LOCAL: Banca virtual
TITLE:

THE ARCHITECTURE OF SIMULACRUM: "MEDIEVAL" CASTLES IN THE THE STATE OF RIO GRANDE DO NORTE HINTERLAND IN THE 20th CENTURY

KEY WORDS:

Simulacrum; Castles; Rio Grande do Norte; Authenticity; Aesthetics; Identity

PAGES: 175
BIG AREA: Ciências Sociais Aplicadas
AREA: Arquitetura e Urbanismo
SUBÁREA: Fundamentos de Arquitetura e Urbanismo
SPECIALTY: História da Arquitetura e Urbanismo
SUMMARY:

The study aims to critically evaluate the concept of simulacra as applied to the three castles located in the hinterlands of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, built during the twentieth century. The research is grounded in a critique of ideas such as architectural “authenticity” and “truth,” highlighting how these constructions do not constitute faithful representations of the European Middle Ages, but rather exogenous expressions operating within the field of simulation. The central research question is thus defined as follows: in what ways can the castles of Rio Grande do Norte be understood as simulacra in light of Jean Baudrillard’s theory, and what cultural, social, and aesthetic meanings emerge from this phenomenon? To address this question, the study proposes, based on Jean Baudrillard’s concept of simulacrum, to discuss the persistence of the medieval imaginary in contemporary society, particularly through architecture, focusing on three castles in the hinterlands of Rio Grande do Norte — Engady, Di Bivar, and Zé dos Montes — as case studies, after mapping fifty examples of “castles” across Brazil and systematizing their spatial distribution. As a contextual background, the study also examines literature and music, which may contribute to understanding the proposed concept. The interdisciplinary methodology converges within the fields of architectural history, semiotics, anthropology, and sociology, combining bibliographical and documentary research, discourse analysis, and iconographic survey, associating critical theory with empirical observation. The research is justified by the fact that Brazil did not historically experience the Middle Ages, yet it hosts an architectural production marked by the aestheticization and recoding of medieval imagery, revealing both the strength of the imaginary and the cultural hybridity of our time. The study seeks to contribute to debates on authenticity, aesthetics, and identity by proposing an interpretation of the castles of Rio Grande do Norte not as falsifications of the past, but as simulacra that establish new symbolic and cultural realities.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Interno - 1720813 - GEORGE ALEXANDRE FERREIRA DANTAS
Interno - 1149450 - RUBENILSON BRASAO TEIXEIRA
Externo à Instituição - DAMIÃO ESDRAS ARAÚJO ARRAES