Entre tramas e fios: as controvérsias das transformações de significados e usos da lã de carneiro na Serra da Mantiqueira

Abstract

This work is about development, knowledge and popular culture that involve the transformations of sheep wool worked in Serra da Mantiqueira. Based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), a research was carried out on the transformations in the uses and meanings of fiber from the 1980s onwards. To address these transformations, it was necessary to follow three objectives, the first being an oligoptic vision of sheep wool production in the Serra da Mantiqueira region, to trace its history in the region. The second consisted of identifying the human and non-human actors in the Mantiqueira networks and the third and last one, analyzing the sociotechnical network of sheep wool produced in Serra da Mantiqueira. The research used two networks that work with sheep's wool as an element that represents the cultural identity of their regions: Ave Lã and Mãostiqueiras. In a comparison between the two and briefly telling the history of sheep's wool in the Serra da Mantiqueira region; that more than a geographic connection, there is a cultural connection that permeates the economy of culture between the cities that cross the Sul de Minas and the State of São Paulo. As a methodological process, field research was carried out, interviews with artisans, artisans and sheep breeders and analysis of photographs and images sent by the artisans. The results consist of the cultural importance of sheep's wool for the Serra da Mantiqueira region, both on the cultural side and on the income generation side, both of which face the lack of public policies aimed at valuing local raw material, strengthening local economic development. In addition, still in the field of results, but focused on transformations, the most evident was related to the meaning of a local custom of working with sheep's wool for a "tradition" of the region, with a change of stages of the process in rituals and the second is related to the artifacts themselves, before they were covered, today they are smaller pieces, such as hats, scarves, gloves and decoration pieces.