Nilo peçanha and his dog jicky: Cultural and political meanings of a relationship

Abstract

The article examines Nilo Peçanha’s relationship with his pet dog, Jicky. The bond between these two individu-alized living beings in the early decades of the twentieth cen-tury points to various aspects of the historical interaction between humans and animals. As a prominent leader and President of the Republic, Nilo Peçanha’s relationship with his dog was represented in the press, highlighting cultural and political meanings that referred to the context of the time and the image of the politician. Jicky became a “public figure” in the First Republic, personifying, along with its owner, new affecti-ve possibilities and old political practices. The sources used in the research were news from newspapers and magazines, car-toons and documents from the collection of the Museum of the Republic.