Mosaico étnico: panorama contextual da cultura espanhola em Santa Maria

Abstract

This study develops a research about the presence of the Spanish in Santa Maria and brings to light some issues related to memory- understood here as a receptacle of identity- that leads to and makes possible the recognition of citizenship. The social invisibility and cultural diversity regarding the formation of the Spanish people in Santa Maria is also the object of research in this work as a means of providing ways to think about other concepts related to the possibility of behaving favorably towards a pacific, productive and multicultural coexistence. The information obtained was achieved by interviewing some of the few Spanish descendants living in Santa Maria, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Such an option is based on the fact that although there are no consistent written records about the presence of Spanish people in Santa Maria, it is possible to know, through their descendants, that this ethnic group was here, mainly in the mid-1960s; therefore, this research collects information from a recent past through the memory of those who were interviewed. The lack of official records made us choose the Oral History criterion as an Oral Testimony to enable us to gather references to facts that the interviewed person has either witnessed or has kept in his memory from his experiences and knowledge.