Entre raspas de mandioca e cheiro de farinha torrada: trabalho, memória e produção farinheira em Cuité-PB (anos 1950-1980).

Abstract

The flour mills were by many decades the main workplaces for many farming families in Cuité-PB and nearby regions. Places of intense work and social relations, the houses producing cassava flour were also places of conversations and practice of mutual aid. This present work aims to reflect on the world of work of the farmers who work in the flour mills of Cuité-PB, paying attention to their memories and experiences between the decades of 1950 and 1980. Our interest is to analyze the representation of these men and women farmers about their experiences on handcraft work in the "farinhadas", involving the labor relations, the improvements in the productive unit, and their daily life beyond the workspace. The time period established here is due to the fact that this period contemplates the transition of improvements in some stages of flour production, in particular, the insertion of the motor for the milling of manioc. This equipment replaced the wooden wheel which was moved using the physical strength, consisting of an exclusively manual activity. The research starts with the analysis of oral sources and presents the perspective of the farmers on their world of work, along with the changes and life outside of it. Through Oral History methodology, we interviewed a group composed of eleven farmers: five men and six women. These workers carried a set of knowledge and practices about the artisanal process of flour production, thus possessing a character of exclusivity over the work they performed. Their memories about the craft in the "farinhadas" also exhibit the sociability relations present in these spaces: ties of fellowship and mutual help occurred, being alternative practices to resist the difficult conditions faced. With the improvements of productive units, the farmers in a meaningful way, represent changes in the work environment, taking into account the new rhythms and adaptations required. Their representations about the "farinhadas" also reveal their perspectives and their social place, in a way that their lives are associated with the work.