Pátrio-Biografia: Horácio de Almeida e a sua história da Paraíba

Abstract

Horácio de Almeida was one of the most proficuous intellectuals from Paraíba. With a degree in Law by the Faculty of Recife, he collaborated with various local newspapers and had a large production about the history of the state of Paraíba, such as Brejo de Areia (1958) and History of Paraíba (1966 and 1978). In addition, he took an active part in the IHGP and in many other intellectual organizations in Paraíba and other states. His production, specially the historiographical kind, always related to the construction of the history and identity of his birth place. There was a latent concern in building a history of Paraíba with happenings and characters singular to such space. Our research s intention is to comprehend the construction of such discursive and symbolic specifities, called paraibanidade by Dias (1996), in Almeidas s texts, more specifically in the two works questioned by us above mentioned. In order to do so, we present the places and time of production of this intellectual, with whom this author dialogued and what s his comprehension on what history is, in the elaboration of this identity of Paraíba which evidenced the honour and strength of the men from Paraíba, using different instruments such as the speeches in research institutions and spaces in the press. We call this universe of meaningful instruments of Historical Culture, which is the dimension of the representations of the social past, to which formation acts the historians themselves, the press, the cultural producers and all the divulgers of the historical knowledge, whether they re professionals or not.