"Interpreters of History and Culture": religious careers and cultural mediation in the State of Rio Grande do Sul

• Autor(a) principal: Seidl, Ernesto
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Anos 90 (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/anos90/article/view/5389
• topic: Mediação cultural; Imigração; Catolicismo; Intelectuais; Cultural Mediation; Immigration; Catholicism; Intellectuals

This work examines the patterns of constitution and exercise of the role of cultural mediation by Catholic-committed individuals in the Southern Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul. Focused on the second half of the 20th century, it analyses the specific circumstances of formation of "experts/interpreters" in "culture" and "history" of the Italian and German immigrant groups in the region, whose works are mainly devoted to celebrate both the social attributes and the ascension of the groups they represent. Besides the analysis of the school and cultural assets accumulated by these mediators in different social spheres (religious, scientific/academic, intelectual, artistic), it also casts light on the symbolic instruments (publications, institutes, study centres, posts, homage, publishing houses) forged in the disputes of interpreting the immigrant ethnical groups. The study also seeks to contribute to the field of analysis of immigration and colonization phenomena (not only in the State of Rio Grande do Sul) through relativizing social representations based on notions taken from disciplines such as History, Social Sciences and Philosophy which have been largely incorporated by the academic common-sense.