A Coluna Prestes: disputas em torno do passado e construção do patrimônio cultural sul-rio-grandense

Abstract

The thesis, developed in the line of research on memory and heritage of the Graduate Program in History at the Federal University of Santa Maria, has as its theme social representations, the disputes for the memory and the uses of Prestes’ Column past and Luiz Carlos Prestes’ political trajectory in the Mission region of Rio Grande do Sul, especially in Santo Ângelo city, as well as the influence of this in the construction of memory and cultural heritage policies connected to this past. The thesis main objective is to demonstrate the positive and negative social representations about Prestes’ Column and the political trajectory of Luiz Carlos Prestes that have been happening since the 1920s and, from that event “Prestes’ Column: 60 years later”, held in 1984, in Santo Ângelo, they started a process of activations, disputes, representations and uses of the past that resulted in the creation of a Memorial in honor of the Prestes’ Column, created in 1996, seeking to turn this space not only a place of memory in honor of the Column, but, mainly, a tourist attraction to be added to the cultural and patrimonial expressions of the Jesuit-indigenous past of Santo Ângelo. Representations of this process and the search for the consolidation of the Memorial, as part of the city's cultural heritage, are also problematized. To analyze the representations about Prestes’ Column, Luiz Carlos Prestes, the event “Prestes’ Column: 60 years later” and the Prestes’ Column Memorial, it was used as sources: the newspaper Correio do Povo, from Porto Alegre, in 1924 editions; a police inquiry by the Rio Grande do Sul Police Department, about the 1924 lieutenant’s revolt in the state; the newspapers A Tribuna Regional and Jornal das Missões, from Santo Ângelo, in editions from 1984 and 1995 forwards; and oral interviews with people who participated in Luiz Carlos Prestes coming to Santo Ângelo for the event “Prestes’ Column: 60 years later”. Therefore, it was demonstrated that the fields of memory and cultural heritage are, among other factors, the result of social construction processes and, mainly, spaces of disputes for legitimacy that use representations as a way to demonstrate approval or disapproval in relation to the places of memory and cultural heritage that are created, especially when they involve events and characters that generate ambiguous interpretations, such as Prestes’ Column and Luiz Carlos Prestes.