Brazilian Memory Research Articles

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, social connectedness and cognitive performance of older adults

Studies of the impact of robotic companion pets are proliferating, authored by several disciplines, each with different concerns. Roboticists focus on technology design and artificial emotional intelligence as opposed to general preferences for soft, furry, interactive animals. Others worry that as people interact with potentially deceptive technology, they may think the pet is alive. While aware of these serious concerns, gerontologists have focused on how lonely older persons without cognitive impairment respond to social ‘helper’ robots. More recent studies emphasize the possible impact of animatronic pets on persons with dementia (PWD). Therapeutic benefits of these pets are just being established. Our current pilot study is timely in that it now involves semi-structured interviews with formal/ informal caregivers of PWD who have been given a robot pet. We are eliciting perceptions, opinions, and observations of the PWD’s response to robotic pets. We recruited 8 gerontology students as much-needed assistants for a research-driven topics course to afford them field exposure to PWD, caregivers, and direct research experience. Because students seldom have experience either with robotic pets or PWD, they read selected articles and received training/practice in semi-structured interviewing techniques. Students next conducted interviews with caregivers of PWD who have interacted with the pets. All interviews are audio-recorded, transcribed and deposited in the Carolinas Conversations Collection. Content and thematic analysis of transcriptions, student activity logs and bi-weekly reflective discussions will inform next steps in intervention research, testing therapeutic outcomes such as agitation reduction by pet robots for PWD.

Mediating memories: Murat’s A memória que me contam (2012) as a cinematic critique of Brazilian memory regimes

ABSTRACT This paper begins to confront the existing gap in scholarship that tends to disregard the multiple ways in which cultural products are inherently entangled with transitional justice and its defense of the right to truth, memory and justice. Through an analysis of the Brazilian film, A memória que me contam (2012), I explore film’s potential to open up a space for a deeper discussion on the constructed nature of all memories by laying bare the negotiated processes inherent in all rememberings and narrative truths. A memória que me contam specifically unpacks the productive problematics of memory through the employment of 1) reflective materials and 2) trans-generational story-telling. Together, these motifs portray the fragmented, constructed nature of memories, while also highlighting the importance of exemplary memories that resist the edification of the past within a memory regime. Rather than insisting on the authenticity of the past as a singular entity, the film celebrates the transmission of its multiplicity.

A verdade da direita: a produção audiovisual de memória sobre a ditadura de 1964.

This paper aims to understand memory operations made by Brasil Paralelo (Parallel Brazil) to construct a positive imaginary of Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985) as a strategy in nowadays politics. Brasil Paralelo is an independent media, in their own words. It was created in 2016, the year President Dilma Rousseff was impeached. According to their creators, Brasil Paralelo is not an enterprise or an NGO. It does not accept public money and it’s sustained by people’s donation. On March 31, the documentary “1964, o Brasil entre armas e livros” (“1964, Brazil among guns and books”) was realesed, exactly in the military coup anniversary. This paper is going to analyze it, aiming to understand the role of right-wing audiovisual productions in the disputes of Brazilian memory concerning the military dictatorship.

CAPOEIRA: A MEMÓRIA SOCIAL CONSTRUÍDA POR MEIO DO CORPO

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi compreender, por meio de uma análise de elementos da história da capoeira, alguns mecanismos de busca por legitimação no seu universo, bem como suas diferentes formas de organização e manifestação preservadas na memória e cultura brasileira. Utilizamos a memória social como instrumento analítico reflexivo, para compreender melhor os processos de formação das identidades em uma nação. O texto traz as diferentes memórias construtoras das vertentes da capoeira brasileira em diálogo com seu recente registro como patrimônio imaterial da cultura brasileira.

Flávio Damm, profissão fotógrafo de imprensa: o fotojornalismo e a escrita da história contemporânea

O artigo tem como proposta analisar a relação entre a fotografia de imprensa e a escrita da história contemporânea. Apóia-se nos estudos sobre a história da memória do fotojornalismo brasileiro, orientados pela metodologia da história oral e do uso da fotografia na análise historiográfica. O foco central incide sobre a trajetória do fotógrafo gaúcho Flávio Damm e sua primeira reportagem de impacto, publicada na Revista do Globo, em 1948, sobre o retorno de Getúlio Vargas à cena política após o Estado Novo. Discute-se, a partir deste estudo de caso, as relações entre as palavras e as imagens na elaboração das chamadas fontes de memória, a produção do acontecimento pela mídia e sua repercussão na memória contemporânea, e por fim, a capacidade narrativa da imagem fotográfica e sua relação com a escrita da história renovada pela introdução de fontes não tradicionais - orais e visuais.