Resumo:
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.
