MEMORY AND HISTORY - WHY REMEMBER? Nanci Lancha Novo, Clara Versiani dos Anjos Prado

Abstract

The article is based on the authors’ concerns regarding Brazil’s most recent history and its relationship with memory. These issues relate to the civil-military coup of 1964 and the dictatorship that followed. It also starts from a question raised by the authors’ teaching activities in teacher training courses, namely the importance of memory work in the teaching of history. The article is based on reflections outlined in other works by the authors, deepening them in the light of a theoretical framework that brings together Jacques Le Goff, Paul Ricouer, Eric Hobsbawm, Pierre Nora, Tzvetan Todorov, Enrique Padrós and Edison Teles. This was the support that allowed us to reevaluate data from previous research, as well as to interpret other data that emerged from more recent research on the relationships between memory and history of the 1964 coup and the military dictatorship in the city of Santos. Considering the reflections of authors who analyzed the relationship between memory, history and forgetting, we sought to reflect on the importance of collective memory and history for the construction of a democratic society, thus perceiving the meaning of rescuing memory in the formation of citizenship.