“Foi lá para o pé de jaca”: Apropriação da memória social pelas crianças negras rurais

Abstract

Intergenerational transmission plays an important role in the maintenance of social memory of black rural communities, in the transmission of knowledge and tradition that characterize its relation with the ethnic and racial territory. This paper intends to analyze narratives of older habitants of the Cafuringa community, in the city of Campo dos Goytacazes (RJ, Brasil), as well as analyze the intergenerational dialogues that exists and the role of children in the preservation of social memory. To that end, we will discuss the results of an extension activity, in which were realized semi-structured interviews with nine habitants of the community, as well as workshops with around thirty children and young people. We observed that several legends were told by the older habitants, legends that are related to the Afro-Brazilian traditions that are present in the history of the community. The children, in their turn, demonstrated appropriation and the ability to update these narratives, something we observed in their conversations, games and drawings. We observed, from these points, the specific relation that the community established with its territory, the conflicts between the values of the present with the memories of the past, as well as the active role that the children exercise in the maintenance of social memory.