Tecendo narrativas sobre o cotidiano de mulheres operárias na Fábrica Rheingantz: materialidades, memórias e processo de musealização colaborativa

Abstract

This thesis proposes an archaeological investigation into the daily lives of women workers at the Rheingantz Factory, a textile industry founded in 1873 in the city of Rio Grande (RS), based on the memories of women who worked there between 1945 and 1997, as well as those of their family members. It is a collaborative research project that seeks to value the knowledge and experiences of former workers through actions of industrial heritage outreach, such as memory circles, a documentary, and an exhibition, focusing on their relationships with production spaces, machinery, and textile artifacts. From a feminist perspective, this study examines how factory materialities contributed to the maintenance of dominant ideologies and legitimized the oppressions experienced by the workers, highlighting how intersections of gender, class, race, and ethnicity were materially expressed on the factory floor, along with the subversive tactics led by these women. Finally, through the proposal of an exhibition, the creation of a future Rheingantz Factory Museum is advocated—one built with the active participation of former workers, where their silenced narratives of oppression and resistance, their hidden marks, and muted cries can gain visibility and resonate within the museum space, allowing women to be protagonists and feel represented.