Do colégio à prefeitura: a trajetória política de Valserina Bulegon Gassen na região da Quarta Colônia, RS

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyze the political trajectory of Valserina Maria Bulegon Gassen, president of the victorious Emancipacionist Comission which incurred the creation of the Municipality of São João do Polêsine (RS) and who also, in the decades of 1990, 2000, and 2010, had an intense political engagement leading the Municipal Executive in the role of mayor, for four mandates. Considering the context of a cultural frontier still being very present in the participation of women in politics, it lead to the study of the leadership trajectory of a woman, teacher and politician in the social and economic context of a small town and further on, in the greater region of the Fourth Colony of Italian Immigration of Rio Grande do Sul. As such, the result of the research was presented in three chapters, where were described and analyzed the political profile, goals, and role of the mayor as well as her developments and main projects achieved which contributed for a retired teacher to be elevated to the highets position in the Municipal Executive for a long period, and to aquire the status of reagional leadership. For this, interviews were the focal point, specially the ones conducted with Valserina. And so the research was based on oral and documental sources, as well as regional newspapers: A Razão, Integração Regional and Cidades do Vale, with supporting bibliography covering women in politics, memory and society, and present times history.This paper is associated with the research line "Border, Politics and Society" of PPGH/UFSM, and is supported by the scholarship CAPES/DS from april 2022 through october 2023. Research aproved by the Ethics Comittee of UFSM and aproved in Plataforma Brasil nº 5.572.261.