“Eu sempre quis aprender a ler e a escrever, mas meu lápis foi a enxada e meu papel a terra”: memórias de velhas no sertão Roseano-ribeirinho do São Francisco

Abstract

The objective of this work was to analyze the social function of the narratives of the old riverside women of the municipality of Ponto Chique - MG, on the category place, “sertão” and the relation with the narratives about old age present in characters of Roseana novels by the Author João Guimarães Rosa. As a methodological path, we chose qualitative research from a narrative perspective, with the use of phenomenology, considering the place of experience as a source of cultural reflection. We used the following methodological techniques: autoethnography, field diaries, figures, dialogues with city residents, conversation circles, open interviews with old women, analysis of bookkeeping by an old man in the city. We are mainly guided by the studies of Carlos Rodrigues Brandão and Eclea Bósi on old age in rural and urban areas. We listed the category “sertão” and “narrative” due to a political choice: “sertão” within the Roseana tradition in which the “sertaneja” people are included, and “narrative” due to Walter Benjamin’s contribution to thinking about the place of narrative in history. We use the category “old age” within a sociological perspective, as considered by Marilena Chauí. We believe that the narratives reveal silenced listening, as ways of thinking about the relationship between global/local, and the social function of old age in the “sertões”, functioning as “guardians” of memory.