“Trem da saudade”: uma análise das relações entre memória e história na construção de uma identidade ferroviária na cidade de Pedro Osório, RS

Abstract

This thesis focuses on analyzing the interweaving of memory and history in the locality of Olimpo, now the city of Pedro Osório, whose routes were outlined by the railway expansion of the second half of the 19th century. This context proved to be rich in information and possibilities for exploring the frontier that, although tenuous, differentiates history from memory. Furthermore, the study also sought to respond to the problematic of a possible identity construction in relation to the train and its local representations. Based on the allegory of the mythological figures of Mnemosyne (memory), Clio (history) and Cronos (time), discussions were held that permeate the experiences and temporalities of the city, the triad that fights among themselves for the right to memories, forgetfulness, ruptures and permanence. This work proposes a shift in the way knowledge is observed and constructed,combining local history with microanalysis while adopting certain characteristic aspects of this theoretical school. Scaling down the focus allows for detailed observation while enablingbroader contextual interpretations. To this end, we worked with narratives of memories evoked from the image and whistle of the freight train, which still resonates in the silence of the city. Narratives collected from the “Google Forms” tool, interviews conducted directly by me or made available by other researchers and the analysis of the documentary “On the rails of memory”, a local initiative to preserve railway memory. Therefore, through the contraposicion of generational memories and the remnants of railway culture, the “trem da saudade” traveled along the lines that resulted in the reading of the trajectory of a city. It investigated the impacts and transformations on the daily life of a small town on the banks of the Piratini river, whose current layout preserves traces of a railway identity.