Memórias de velhos no Quilombo Vila Teimosa.

Abstract

This monograph is the result of an ethnographic claim made in a remnant community of quilombos located in the municipality of Livramento, a geopolitical unit in western Cariri of Paraíba. Vila Teimosa is one of the first three self-recognized and certified Quilombola communities in the region. In this sense, it was sought to understand the relation of the collective memory in the construction of the groups’s ethnic identity. The research’s methodology aimed at collecting oral histories from some of the older members of that social group, a 93-year-old lady, her 65-year-old daughter, and a 65-year-old man. In search of the collective memory of that group, in relation to their ethnic identity, we opted methodologically for the figure of the old people to be present because, in a functionalist approach to collective memory, the function of the old people is to remember. To get their memories, we devised strategies to trigger memories through a round of dialogue, where each senior would talk about something of their past related to the community, causing one to trigger the memory of the other, promoting mutual sharing. It is satisfactory to work with older people from traditional communities and to have the opportunity to understand their collective social experience through participant ethnography. The oral histories presented to us are elements that form a collective identity that characterizes that social group.