Slavery monuments in ruins

links between information, memory and decolonial studies

Abstract

The main objective of the study is to reflect, in the light of decolonial studies, on how the ethnic-racial claims, generated within the scope of the New Social Movements, impact the resignification of national memory. This is an article for whose development a sociocultural approach to information was adopted, which focuses on the global protests caused from the year 2020 on about public monuments built to honor characters linked to the slave trade, colonialism and the various expressions of racism. As a methodological procedure, an exploratory research was carried out through a literature review. It presents some discussions about the (de)coloniality of power and knowledge, to give visibility to the knowledge produced by groups that did not integrate the Eurocentric view of knowledge; shows how Information Science can contribute to represent the intellectual production of knowledge socially constructed by a group of subjects subordinated to the Eurocentric episteme; analyzes how the New Social Movements exercise counterpower and are built through a process of autonomous communication, free from the control of those who hold institutional power to fight colonial ties; shows how discussions about the concept of document/monument arise and relates them to the movement called counter-monument and the discursive claim that gives voice to silenced and forgotten voices; presents the historical and social context of characters such as Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826) and George Washington (1732 - 1799), whose statues were removed/stoned as a result of social disputes permeated by political and ideological issues antagonistic; describes how the counter-monument reaches the Brazilian scene, starting from the monument of the São Paulo pioneer Manuel Borba Gato (1649 – 1718), whose monument was burned by movements that claimed the heroic meaning attributed to a character linked to the hunting and enslavement of Indians and blacks . The article also analyzes historic reparation initiatives. For this, it addresses the recent debate on the Federal Bill 5296/2020, the Municipal Bill 47/2021 and the role of museums in guarding controversial historical monuments that must be contextualized through heritage education. It concludes that public monuments are informative objects that represent certain historical events that awaken the memory of groups that suffered some consequence of the acts practiced by their characters.