O cerimonial universitário como preservação da memória institucional da Universidade Federal do Ceará

Abstract

Universities are institutions whose mission is to build a cultural heritage based on educational, formative, ethical, scientific, philosophical and artistic principles, contributing to the intellectual growth of humanity and, consequently, to the development of nations. The Federal University of Ceará (henceforth UFC) is heir to this long tradition, and it is part of its mission to preserve all of this heritage and to always refresh it in the academic solemnities. UFC takes responsibility for preserving local and universal institutional memory by participating in the process of training new generations. The rites of passage of the University Ceremony Office preserve the image, memory and history of the university, recapturing the past, building the present and planning the future. It is not known how the university communities sees the office of ceremonies within their institutions. For that reason, through the technique of the case study at UFC, this research sought to identify how the rituals and traditions of the university ceremonies are preserved, the ceremonies that most marked the history of the university, and which affective memories are mostly reported by managers and students. It is an exploratory study with combined techniques of documentary, bibliographic and field research, with a qualitative approach. In conclusion the data showed that there is a strong sense of attachment in the affective memories in the two surveyed groups. Both stated the importance of rites, symbols and tradition during the ceremonies. As for the preservation of institutional memory, the majority of the university managers surveyed sees the office of ceremonies as a place for this memory.