“Antes fosse mais leve a carga”: as narrativas do trauma como dispositivos mobilizadores no jornal A Sirene

Abstract

Considered the biggest environmental crime in Brazil, the Fundão Dam rupture, which occurred in Bento Rodrigues in November 2015, is a “time catastrophe” (ALEKSIÉVITCH, 2013) as it deeply breaks with the dynamic order of life of the residents of Bento Rodrigues, Paracatu de Baixo and other locations directly and indirectly affected by the tailings sludge from the Samarco mining company. This research aims to identify the narratives of trauma present in the newspaper A Sirene, a periodical newspaper produced by and for those affected by this event, and to understand their actions as mobilizing devices for survivors. To do so, we started from studies on memory and traumatic memory, passing through the concept of device, the understanding of journalism as an instrument of mobilization, until arriving at reflections on the narratives of trauma in the pages of A Sirene. We structured a methodological course in two stages, the first being the organization of trauma narratives with the support of Thematic Analysis (BRAUN; CLARKE, 2006). In a later moment, we used the work “In Search of Meaning”, by Viktor Frankl (1984), which presents the basis for understanding tragic optimism, a way of reinterpreting pain and trauma as a mobilizing power that can be adopted by survivors of traumatic events. Based on the analyses, we identified the tragic tetrad of trauma narratives: the four main themes in which trauma narratives are anchored in the pages of the newspaper A Sirene – memory, nostalgia, denunciation and empowerment.