Through an analysis of ethnography from three municipalities situated in the sertão of Pernambuco, the article explores some of the ways in which the dead are called to intervene in the quotidian activities of the living. The article seeks to demonstrate how histories of municipal politics are established and sedimented through familiar mnemonics and genealogical narratives, leading to the creation of unique state-forms.
Ethnography; politic; memory; family; deads; Pernambuco