Colocando o engenho a tocar: moendas, tachos, alambiques e a memória da cultura da cana-de-açúcar na Antiga Torres - RS - Brasil

Abstract

This work was carried out with the support of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel – Brazil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001. It is linked to the Graduate Program in Social Memory and Cultural Heritage of Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), within the research line Memory and Identity. The research focuses on analyzing the trajectory of the sugarcane agro-industrial culture and tradition as both tangible and intangible cultural heritage located in the social space of Antiga Torres. The investigation used the method of a case study, collecting and systematizing archival and audiovisual documents on the subject. The theoretical framework encompasses the concepts of tangible and intangible heritage, social (collective) memory, representation, tradition, industrial heritage, and social space. The thesis is structured into six chapters. Chapters 2 to 4 present an assessment of the historical development of sugarcane culture, as well as the formation of the territory of Antiga Torres and its relations with the social space of the Urban Agglomeration of the Northern Coast of Rio Grande do Sul. Chapters 5 and 6 follow. The fifth chapter investigates production spaces as traditional tangible and intangible heritage of Antiga Torres, examining familial agro-industrial vestiges and practices passed down through generations. It addresses the concepts of industrial archaeology and memory, reinforcing the principles of identification and belonging (identities) associated with master craftsmen and craftswomen and their traditional knowledge and practices. The sixth chapter emphasizes intangible culture in the artisanal agro-industrial crafts and expertise of Antiga Torres, highlighting productive practices, the transmission of knowledge, symbolic bonds, and cultural transformations, all of which are key to understanding tradition.