NA GEOGRAFIA DA PERDA, A MEMÓRIA QUE FICA: Narrativas de Salvaguarda dos Objetos Biográficos na Enchente do Rio Grande do Sul (2024)

Resumo (EN)

This research analyzes the impact of the loss of biographical objects on the affective memories of the population affected by the 2024 floods in Rio Grande do Sul, and the role of their safeguarding in identity reconstruction. The study investigates how these items structure individual and collective memory and assist in the emotional recovery of those affected. It builds on the hypothesis that, although the loss destabilizes ontological security and ruptures temporal continuity, the safeguarding of these items assists in processing the trauma and reconstructing individual and collective identities, functioning as a tangible link between the past, the pain, the new beginning, and the future. As a general objective, the study seeks to promote a dialogical relationship between heritage safeguarding and the affected populations, integrating their voices and experiences in valuing these assets as a means of preserving individual, social, and identity-related histories. The methodology is based on the intersection of Oral History and Ethnography, adopting the Oral Life History Narratives method to conduct semi-structured interviews with direct and indirect victims of the disaster, anchored in the concepts of memory, heritage, and trauma. The results reveal that the floodwaters caused a disorganization of daily life, in which the loss of biographical objects was experienced as a destabilization of identity itself. The investigation demonstrates that the effort to rescue affective traces, especially photographs, constitutes a search for existential anchorage to relocate the subject in the world and in time. Furthermore, the mourning for materiality and the breach of ontological security divided their trajectories between the "before" and the "after" of the tragedy. The final considerations conclude that, although the calamity destroys physical objects and homes, it does not eliminate the human capacity for resignification. When biographical materiality disappears, individual and social memory remains in motion, sustained by oral narratives and collective solidarity, evidencing that the heritage rebuilt in the face of trauma is shared life.