José Barbosa Rodrigues e a construção da memória e da identidade Sul-Mato-Grossense

Abstract

The research aims to analyze the cultural production of José Barbosa Rodrigues about the history of Mato Grosso do Sul. For this, the following works were selected, due to their relevance: Isto é Mato Grosso do Sul: nasce um estado (1978); the textbook Mato Grosso do Sul: para 3° série do 1°grau (1978); Histórias da Terra Mato Grossense (1983); and História de Mato Grosso do Sul (1984). The proposal is to analyze the contents of the works, their interpretative perspectives, their regional clippings, as well as to observe how Rodrigues grounded the local identity. Among the concerns is the need to situate the author at the time the works were written, as well as the problems, questions, longings, looks to the past, projects for the future, and the social, political, and economic context in which he wrote the titles. In this way, the intention is to question the construction of the regional, its identities, truths and essences. Mato Grosso do Sul was created through Complementary Law n. 31, of October 11, 1977, and its territory was separated from the state of Mato Grosso. With the new state also came the need to create the South Mato Grosso regionalism, that is, cultural and civic symbols, as well as literature, history and local memory. In face of this emergency, besides the state government, several institutions and intellectuals mobilized themselves in order to build the memory and the collective identity of MS, among them José Barbosa Rodrigues, owner of the newspaper Correio do Estado. Rodrigues was an intellectual creator and mediator who acted in the political, social and cultural spheres of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. In his trajectory, he published ten works and was concerned in divulging them in order to reach different audiences, including students. Creating an official history, distinct from that of Mato Grosso, was important to establish the new region and to disseminate in society the feelings of subjectivity and belonging to the South Mato Grosso community. Besides this, he contributed to the foundation and consolidation of the Academia Sul-Mato-Grossense de Letras and the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico de Mato Grosso do Sul. Thus, he was responsible for making the first great systematization of the history of MS and, as the founder of institutions, he instituted historiographic matrixes that were adopted by other memorialists. Throughout his life, he also built social networks that involved the Correio do Estado, cultural institutions, politicians and the state government, which, by extension, consolidated him as an obligatory reference in the field of history and in the cultural and political spheres. For this reason, he was always honored and, after his death, remembered as one of the main celebrities of Mato Grosso do Sul.