A relação entre história local e memória institucional: um estudo de caso sobre a Usina Cansanção de Sinimbu e seu povoado

Abstract

The case study "The relationship between local history and institutional memory: a case study on the Usina Cansanção de Sinimbu" aims to promote a reflection on the relationship between local history and institutional memory using as a background for its considerations Usina Cansanção de Sinimbu S/A, a company in the sugar-energy sector founded in 1893 – in the current municipality of Jequiá da Praia, Alagoas – whose activities were closed in 2018. Based on reports obtained from qualitative interviews carried out with former employees of the organization and former and current residents of Povoado Sinimbu – a community founded in 1913 as a village of workers and which survives despite the closure of the company that was the main source of income for its citizens – we reconstructed a panorama of history and business policies that shaped the institution in the period from 1950 to the closing of the plant. Using elements provided by Collective Memory, from the perspective of Maurice Halbwachs, we discuss the process of formation of social memory – here understood as a necessary element for the formation/reconstitution of Institutional Memory – by prioritizing the speech of the individuals who constitute that organization. Therefore, such perspective promotes a subversion of the dominant notion in the field of Social Sciences of privileging the use of written reports and other documents, which sometimes act as tools of ideological domination/reproduction by reflecting the perspective of the dominant classes. Thus, the present work presents the advantages and disadvantages of using individual narratives as a methodological procedure for reconstructing the history of organizations and its use by the Public Relations professional, with a special focus on the production of more trustworthy institutional reports. and committed to a worldview that gives voice to the lower classes.