First impression: Rio de Janeiro seen by those who arrived there by ship

Abstract

In this article, I analyze some of the testimonies gathered from the immigrants that arrived at the city of Rio de Janeiro by sea, while trying to focus from their reports on the impression kept in their memory of the first moments spent in this city. I consider the lack of language fluency at their arrival as an opportunity to access the way by which the five senses of the human body react to such a situation of novelty and unfamiliarity. That means, taking for granted the lack of verbal communication, I observe how the body mediates and builds the attribution of senses, thus proving to be an interesting analytical device for access to human representations.