Chapecó: memória e monumento

Abstract

Memories are compositions of political, social, cultural, economic contexts of each time. According to this complex net, this research aims at investigating the social representations that circulate in the monuments which celebrate the official memory of Chapeco, SC: “O Desbravador” (1981) and Monument Chapeco 100 Years (2017), both inaugurated on festive days, on the occasion of celebrations of 64th anniversaries of the city and 100 years of political and administrative emancipation of the city, respectively. In this intention specific goals are implied, which make possible to understand the relation among memory, power and identity; identifying discourses, symbols, subjects and social practices presented and muted by the official memory of Chapeco; problematizing the social practices celebrated, according to the most dynamic and plural realities with which the memories coat themselves. The methodology evolve bibliographic and documental research, built up through dialogues with the authors, verification of documents, official registers, newspapers, photography, image reading. The research is divided within three chapters, shedding light on the process of formation of identities (and differences), that divide social world, it is attached to the representations that encircle the mentioned monuments, which reveal (also hide), announce (equally mute) memories, remembrance (forgetfulness), emotions, concerning the history of colonization and development of Chapeco. Among other aspects, the research pointed that the development and the progress of Chapeco are represented by the official memory, turned to the visibility of the heroes and conquers, leaving aside different actors and organizations: mestizos, indians, small farmers, women, social movements, syndicates. However, the research also revealed that the city, linked to the local and global dynamic, has changed. Current Chapeco is part of a hybrid sociocultural reality – plural, contradictory, ambiguous. Monuments, in the midst of the city's transformations, are more open to urban dynamics, allowing memory to interact with change. This picture points to the revitalization of its heroes, in the midst of propaganda, traffic, graffiti, political demonstrations, the struggle of social movements that remain alive despite the setbacks. Choosing monuments as an object of study therefore requires problematizing social representations, truths and projects defended there by the various groups, according to their ideals of society, rather than appreciating the work itself, as imposing and grand as it presents itself. Thus, the research, being far from concluding on de theme of memory and material cultural memory of Chapeco, it opens revealing theoretical and political perspectives, in order to doubt, ask, suspect from what is taken as natural, discussing, thought with the contradictions of the present. The study, which is both provisional and conclusive, is thus an invitation to an ever-new reading on the theme of memories in their connections, such as monuments and representations of class, gender, ethnicity, among other marks in these perpetuated spaces. The memory of Chapeco and the Monuments “O Desbravador” and “Chapecó 100 Anos” are historical and cultural inventions that synthesize histories of life, whose meanings may be transformed, because they are culturally built up.