Educação patrimonial e apropriação do patrimônio cultural: estudo de caso do município de Duque de Caxias

Abstract

This study investigates Heritage Education as an instrument of appropriation of cultural heritage by local actors for the preservation or construction of collective memory and local collective identity. The appropriation investigated here is the cultural one that social groups carry out with a cultural manifestation or an asset, essentially patrimonial, because it is linked to the construction of collective identity. The genesis of Heritage Education in Brazil dates back to the early 1980s, a period in which the need to include local actors as subjects of preservation actions carried out by the State was discussed. In this way, we seek to understand the characteristics of educational actions, and the contributions that can be made from them to foster the real appropriation of cultural heritage by local actors. Therefore, it was necessary to investigate the practical and conceptual instruments that allow the State to define what is the cultural heritage used in the educational actions carried out by its bodies. The geographic outline stipulated for the research was limited to the municipality of Duque de Caxias, in the State of Rio de Janeiro, due to the existence of a group dedicated to Heritage Education formed by public institutions of culture, specific legislation and educational activities.