Entre ecos e silêncios: o Diário da Borborema e as memórias da história de Campina Grande (PB)

Abstract

Newspapers do more than simply record facts; they construct narratives that keep collective memory alive, reinterpreting events in the light of time and transmitting values, knowledge, and identities to new generations. In this regard, the research, entitled "Between Echoes and Silences: the Borborema Diary and the Memories of the History of Campina Grande (Paraíba), analyzes the Borborema Diary (JDBO) as an infomemorial vehicle, highlighting its role in the construction of collective memory in Campina Grande. Active for 54 years (1958–2012), the JDBO is recognized as a relevant source for understanding the echoes and silences that permeate Campina Grande's cultural history. It addresses the following guiding question: How the newspaper Diário da Borborema (JBDO) contributed to the construction of social and cultural memories that strengthened Campina Grande’s identity, through the representation of historical and everyday events that shaped the city’s trajectory. General objective: to analyze how the Diário da Borborema preserves and updates social and cultural memories of Campina Grande (PB), highlighting its contribution to collective memory. Specific objectives: a) to highlight the infomemorial devices that highlight events such as: a) the Feast of Saint John, the Winter Festival, the Campina Grande Central Market, and the Campina Grande Technological Center; b) to investigate images, historical moments, and aspects of daily life that impacted Campina Grande society; c) to examine how journalistic narratives legitimize cultural and social practices, revealing symbolic negotiations between tradition and modernity. The theoretical foundation is outlined based on the contributions of authors accredited in the field of Information Science and related fields, namely: Aróstegui (historical research, 2006); Assmann (collective memory, 2011); Canclini and Hall (acculturation, identity, and representation); Capurro (epistemology, CI, 2003); Chartier (cultural history, 1990); Dodebel (social memory, 2006); Halbwachs (collective memory, 2006); Le Golf (history and memory, 2003); Nora (places of memory, 1993); Ricoeur (silences and forgetting, 2007), among others. The methodological approach is based on a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach. This is documentary research—a corpus comprised of selected editions of the JDBO, prioritizing reports, editorials, columns, and images covering the Festa de São João, the Winter Festival, the CG Free Market, and the Technological Center. Bibliographic, documentary, and newspaper procedures were used to investigate JDBO editions, based on documentary and thematic analysis techniques. To this end, the thematic content analysis technique (Bardin, 2011) was used, focusing on identifying infomemorial devices, cultural representations, and silencing. The results reveal the potential of the JDBO as a legitimate source of social memory, reinforcing interdisciplinary practices that contribute to the appreciation of the press as an active agent in the construction of local history.