A água como elemento simbólico para a construção de um lugar: memórias e vivências dos moradores do bairro Colônia Antônio Aleixo Manaus-Am

Abstract

The research titled: Water as a symbolic element for the construction of a place: memories and experiences of the residents of the Colônia Antônio Aleixo neighborhood, Manaus-AM. This study-research sought to understand the process of constructing a place through water as a symbolic element, linking identity and belonging in the experiences of the residents of the Colônia Antônio Aleixo neighborhood in Manaus, Amazonas. Considering the knowledge that permeates the experiences and memories of the residents of the Colônia Antônio Aleixo neighborhood. For the development of the research study, we had three objectives, with the general objective being: To understand the construction of the place through the symbolic practices of the water element, in the experiences and memories of the residents of the Colônia Antônio Aleixo neighborhood, Manaus-Am. And the Specific Objectives: a) To investigate the geo-historiography in the appropriation of water use, in the identity contribution and sense of belonging in the process of place-making; b) To describe the political-territorial dimension in the process of water use through the memories and perceptions of the residents; c) To understand the dimension of water possession and control through human relationships, as a process of resistance by the residents of the Colônia Antônio Aleixo neighborhood, Manaus-AM. The study is based on the analysis of the geographical category “place” intertwined with the category of space. They are investigated from the perspective of the residents' subjectivity and experiences. The theoretical foundation of this study is based on Tuan (2012). The first chapter addresses the construction of the historical geography of the Colônia Antônio Aleixo neighborhood through the appropriation of water. The second chapter is understood from the memories, perceptions, and experiences of the residents of Colônia Antônio Aleixo and their relationships with the element of water, objects, and their dramatizations in the construction of identity and belonging to the place. And in the third chapter, it was possible to read the representations of the lived world through mental maps, analyzing and interpreting the symbols through images, identifying how the process of constructing the place occurred through the identity and sense of belonging of the residents. To achieve the set objectives, a qualitative phenomenological approach was chosen, centered on the construction of place with a focus on the memory experienced by residents of the Colônia Antônio Aleixo neighborhood in Manaus, Amazonas, with an emphasis on water as a symbolic element structuring the place. For methodological development, a qualitative exploratory research was chosen, permeated by phenomenological methods capturing the central idea by subjectivizing the experience, emphasized through oralized and narrated geo-history. Other methods were obtained through stratified and demographic sampling, with residents living in the Colônia Antônio Aleixo neighborhood, geographically located in the eastern zone of the city of Manaus-AM, with residents having lived there for 40 to 70 years. This neighborhood has the Aleixo Lake, which is a tributary of the Negro River basin, at the confluence with the Solimões River.