O uso da rede social Instagram como espaço de (re)construção e veiculação da memória: uma análise do perfil @bença_docs e as narrativas de benzedeiras e rezadeiras no meio digital.

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the use of the social network Instagram as a space for (re)constructing and disseminating the memories of faith healers and prayer healers in the digital environment, portrayed on the profile @bença_docs, created and mediated by Paulo de Tarso Tapety. Thus, this research focuses on the social network Instagram, using the profile's posts as sources for analysis. The research problematizes how this digital platform can operate in the construction of memories of cultural and spiritual practices of faith healers and prayer healers from Northeast Brazil, which are traditionally transmitted orally. In this context, it is understood that such memories, when circulated in the digital environment, take the form of mediated memories, a concept developed by researcher José van Dijck, in which they are constructed and shared through media supports. This concept is similar to the concept of prosthetic memories, developed by Alison Landsberg, through which the absorption of experiences not directly experienced but accessed through digital narratives becomes possible. To this end, I draw on the theoretical and methodological foundations of authors such as José D’Assunção, Anita Luchessi, and Debora El-Jaick Andrade, in which I articulate debates regarding Digital Historiography, as well as methods for reading digitally born sources. Thus, I employ multimodal reading as a methodology, grounded in the theoretical contributions of historian Débora Andrade, examining texts, images, videos, sounds, interactions, and audience data from the profile between May 2024 and mid-August 2025. Therefore, it is evident that even amid the ephemerality and instability inherent to social media, Instagram can play a relevant role in the (re)construction and dissemination of living memories, reinforcing collective identities and promoting social recognition of ancestral practices.