Time updating machine

Political uses of Sertão’s past in the contemporary world

Abstract

There are pasts that are frequently updated, especially in contexts of commemoration, when some events figure at the center of agendas in public debate. The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the political uses of the “Sertão’s” past in the contemporary “era of commemoration” that emerged at the end of the 20th century. Based on the metaphor of commemoration as a time updating machine, this work’s discussion is structured in three intersecting parts. The first one presents marks of commemorative times in the present, highlighting events, milestones and (de)constructions of memory. The second deepens the reflection on the temporalities of the Brazilian Northeastern “Sertão”, with particular attention to the “Cangaço’s” past’s reinterpretations, drawing attention to claimed, dissonant and contested cultural heritages. Finally, the third is analyzes these times that, in specific contexts, are so prone to revaluations, bringing out the convergences, divergences and (con)fusions of memory. Based on debates that are relevant to the History of the Present Time, this work’s epistemic contribution is to raise questions that raise awareness to different mechanisms to deal with the past in the present. This may, in turn, reveal the heuristic value that resides in different kinds of historical researches concerning the themes explored in this paper.