Garimpando memórias: o trabalho e as representações dos garimpeiros picuienses (1943-1970).

Abstract

For decades, mineral extraction was one of the main sources of income for many farming families in Picui. Places of intense work and social relations, the banquetas were also the scene of conversations, practices and knowledge. The aim of this research is to contribute to the history of work, as well as to dialogue with themes involving everyday life and the city, paying attention to their memories and experiences between 1943 and 1970, a period marked by the intensification of mineral extraction in the context of the Second World War, as well as the context of technological regression in the post-war period. Our interest lies in analyzing the socio-cultural and economic transformations that took place in the city of Picuí-PB, observing the changes and continuities that occurred in this time frame, involving work relations and daily life, as well as the impacts caused both on the environment and on the lives of the workers in these mines. To do this, we dialogued with the discussions of Sandra Pesavento (about the city) and Jacques Le Goff, Maurice Halbawachs and Ecléa Bosi (about the concept of memory), with the reflections of Pierre Nora, Pollack and Ricouer (about places of memory). In order to think about the history of the old miners from Picui, we used their memories, iconographies, documentaries, audiovisuals and newspaper reports. So far, we have found that these workers carry a body of knowledge and know-how about the mineral extraction process, thus possessing an exclusive character about the work they did.