Subindo a Serra de Moça e encontrando os caboclos: os desafios para a constituição e manutenção de uma unidade social baseada no parentesco e na territorialidade (São João do Tigre – PB).

Abstract

This dissertation aims to discuss the constitution of a social unit: the caboclos da Serra, described from their places, their landscapes, their history, their memories and their social relations between families in movement. The locus of the research is the Serra de Moça site, located in the rural area of the municipality of São João do Tigre - PB. Situated in a scenario of struggles and challenges, of multiple identity images, where the history of the earth is confused with the history of man himself. However, the Serra is not just a gray and unique rock. They are the people who, in the intertwining of their multiple lives, marked by the tension of the encounters between different and different categories, who over time have been building evidence of their own history, produced by the memories of people who have experienced difficulties, but also great achievements. To describe the constitution of this social unit: caboclos da Serra used qualitative anthropological research as a basis, with the aim of displacing their attribution as an ethnic group, highlighting the way in which they identify themselves, discussing the elements that lead them to identify in this way: it is, then, a research that emphasizes the ways of building an identity that sustains the bonds for the production of a collectivity. As a methodology, I opted for the use of ethnographic field research, employing qualitative research, using informal and formal conversations, in addition to non-directive interviews, which I collected walking along roads, paths and paths, visiting houses and participating in family gatherings on Sundays. , to understand how the social relations that exist between them occur, their history, their memories and their way of living. I try to show that the caboclos da Serra, as I defined them, are not just a point on a geographical map, but an unfinished history book, full of life, because, as they say: whoever was planted in the Serra, always makes their trip back, and when he comes back he always has something to teach and something to learn. Much more than just describing it, this dissertation is sharing the experiences of a place still little known.