Uma dose “Paraty”: estudo de caso sobre a reinvenção dos significados da cachaça

Abstract

Cachaça, alcohol produced from sugarcane, has undergone profound material and symbolic transformations, particularly in the last two decades. In this process of transformation, new meanings and social values are given to the drink, historically from Brazil. Thus, adopting hermeneutic-interpretative looks, this work is characterized by its qualitative nature, presenting the results of fieldwork, semi-structured interviews and informal conversations held in the city of Paraty, located in the South Fluminense coast. The choice for this case study is justified by some peculiarities connected to the local cachaça. The drinks produced in the city, at least those that are legalized by the Ministry of Agriculture and related to the Associação dos Produtores e Amigos da Cachaça de Paraty (APACAP), have the seal of the federal government of Origin Indication, which certifies them "tradition" in the production of cachaça. This historical tradition, presents in major research on the subject, refers to the seventeenth century, when the drink played an essential role in the local economy and "Parati" was inserted in the broad field of cachaça synonymous. As I try to analyze the local tradition is also present in the discourses and in the social representations of producers and residents of the city, however, it must be noted that there is no unanimity in the speeches and local representatives. Thus, this study aims to grasp and interpret the different meanings of the cachaça in the discourse and social representations of different subjects in Paraty, namely producers and workers linked to APACAP, merchants, residents and visitors who were in town during my experience in the field. From conflicting collective memories, the proposal is to analyze how these different worldviews relate to the ideological construction of cachaça as local identity and local cultural patrimony.