The uses of the past to an unprecedented future

The historical production of Triângulo Mineiro’s cities according to the public institutions

Abstract

Throughout the 19thcentury, the Triângulo Mineiro was occupied with the creation of many villages and towns and some of them became autonomous and, nowadays, this region has 35 cities. The knowledge about the history of most of these cities occurs by official resources like the memorialists and the public institutions works –Secretariat of Education or Culture. In these works, it was noticed there is an intention to recover the past due to aiming the present action and the future projects. From the survey of the specific productions of the municipal public agencies, it found seven cities –Canápolis, Itapagipe, Iturama, Limeira do Oeste, Monte Alegre de Minas, Uberaba e Uberlândia –where they did written works (on different dates) about local history. In these works, it was perceived the ways thatthe city’s past is recovered and presented, as well as the events and the privileged characters and their possible uses. The production is unequal both in quantity and content, but it was observed that in addition to the historical recovery and attempt toform an official version, the public institutions created written works that do the historical recovery and they are part of work of cultural goods survey to encourage actions of appreciation and education of the historical heritage and request greater resources from heritage preservation entities. In examining the texts produced (and disseminated) by public agencies, it is latent that the past is presented as a reference, legitimizing positions, speeches and identities. Also, it is monumentalized because it is like a founder instant and a way which has to be recovered to drive the practice of the social subjects and groups. And from this production, this article discusses the procedures which the past has been mobilized to confirm itself in the process of making of the local memory and identity.