Opposition to the American leadership by Brazilian nurses (1934-1938)

A historical social descriptive study whose objective is to describe the circumstances where Bertha Pullen assumes as the dean of Anna Nery Nursing School, to assess the strategies undertaken by Pullen to assure her position of power and prestige in the space of the school and Brazilian nursing; and to discuss about the resistance to the presence and authority of the American dean for the nurses and students, in the struggle for a national identity. Corpus analysis was made by putting photographs into context based on written documents and secondary sources.

The second management of Pullen was the reiteration of the American presence in the leadership of the School, despite the resistance of the nurses and students. Thus, we may assume that the second tenure of Pullen did not represent a real need that was felt by the school.