Uso de lenha para a produção artesanal de cerâmica no município de União dos Palmares, Alagoas

Abstract

The wood corresponds to a forest resource of economic and cultural importance for the human populations that depend directly on this resource to carry out their traditional activities as the production of handmade ceramics. The objective of this research was to evaluate the use of firewood in the production of handicraft ceramics from the municipality of. To support a conservation and environmental education program that contributes to the maintenance of the activity in an integrated way with the local knowledge and practices. Initially, the aim was to characterize the use of firewood in the ceramic production process, in order to answer the following questions: 1) The diversity of plants used as wood varies according to the age and gender of the people who produce the ceramic handmade 2) Is the ceramic production process related to the quality, diversity or parts of the species used as firewood in the cooking of ceramics? 3) Are there differences in terms of energy potential of the species most used for firewood? Using the non-probabilistic snowball sampling technique, 28 participants (potters and ex-potters) were selected to be residents of the quilombola village of Muquém. To collect the data, socioeconomic questionnaires were applied, semi-structured interviews were carried out and the free-listing technique was used to record the plants used as firewood. For the data analysis, means, frequencies and different statistical tests were calculated (Simple linear regression test with the aid of software R. Statistical test of Mann-Whitney, with the aid of Biostat software. of the software R. Statistical test of Wilcoxon, in the software Biostat). In addition, the most used plant species had their energy potential evaluated. The informants mentioned 51 species used as firewood, distributed in 20 botanical families. The results indicated that the quality and diversity of the plants used do not influence the use of wood for the production of handmade ceramics, and that only the part of the plant exerts influence in the baking stages. Among the most commonly used species, Mimosa caesalpiniifoliaBenth stood out in terms of energy potential. At a later stage, participatory workshops were held to evaluate the perceptions of a group of schoolchildren in Muquém on the ceramist activity and its social and environmental impacts. For this, the following techniques were used: 1) application of generating questions and systematization of a Collective Subject Discourse (DSC); 2) Strategic planning workshop with the FOFA technique (Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats). It was verified that the young men emphasized the economic and cultural importance of the ceramist activity. However, they also showed concern regarding the environmental impacts related to the activity, especially the use of firewood. Finally, actions of return (dialogue wheel, lectures, planting of seedlings and pottery workshops) were developed along with the social actors involved (potters and schoolchildren), in order to contribute to the reflection and the confrontation of identified socioenvironmental problems.