A usina não morreu, trabalho, história oral e patrimônio na Usina Açucareira Paredão (1933 – 2020)

Abstract

The Paredão Sugar Mill, located in the city of Oriente, State of São Paulo, was an agro-industrial complex created in 1933 during the expansion of the São Paulo agricultural frontier in the early 20th century. It maintained its industrial activities until 1991, when it began to replace sugarcane plantations with pasture. During its 58 seasons of operation, it comprised housing and social assistance services for working families within the property, under the supervision of the Instituto do Açúcar e do Álcool. In 2020, it was sold to Bracell for planting eucalyptus, putting at risk the buildings from the agro-industrial past remaining on the property. Faced with the commotion of society and the impotence of the possibility of destroying this place of memory (Noha, 1984), this dissertation seeks to recover the history of this plant from the understanding of the ways of life of the working families who lived in this agro-industrial complex. The analysis carried out through the theoretical and analytical apparatus of the social history of work, involves the transformations of production, work and residence relations from the singular work regime that shaped the region, the colonato. Furthermore, from the primary sources raised and the interviews constructed from the method of oral history for this investigation, the power that memories, stories and buildings represent as industrial heritage is highlighted.