"Construindo um homem novo": a expansão transnacional de um modelo religioso de cuidado

Abstract

This research, developed within the Graduate Program in Human Condition Studies at the Federal University of São Carlos (Sorocaba campus), examines the expansion and internationalization of the religious model of the Fazenda da Esperança therapeutic communities. These communities, of strictly Catholic orientation, officially count more than 100 units in Brazil and are present in another 23 countries worldwide, across 4 continents. The research aims to analyze the processes, factors, and strategies that have driven this national and international expansion, with specific objectives geared toward understanding the elements that confer social and institutional legitimacy to this expansion, including the organization's institutional capacity, its funding base, and its position within the religious field and within public policy on alcohol and other drugs. Documentary analysis and digital ethnography were adopted as the research methodology, involving extensive reading of official and publicly available documents from Fazenda da Esperança alongside the exploration of different virtual environments maintained by this network of therapeutic communities. The theoretical framework draws on Brazilian legislation concerning therapeutic communities; on the definition of therapeutic communities and the methods employed by these facilities; and on the correlation between these care facilities and their methods with psychiatric hospitalization and/or confinement in total institutions. The analysis of information about Fazenda da Esperança also required in-depth research into certain Catholic institutions and concepts, given their close relationship to the research topic. The digital ethnography revealed that this institutional expansion does not stem exclusively from its therapeutic proposal, but rather from the convergence of religious networks, the production of social legitimacy, organizational capacity, institutional communication, and the insufficiencies of mental health public policy. This growth reveals the persistence of disputes between different models of care, bringing into debate distinct conceptions of freedom, autonomy, citizenship, and recovery. The research suggests that understanding the expansion of therapeutic communities requires shifting the focus from institutional effectiveness to the social and political conditions that render certain forms of care socially legitimate.