Patrimônio em disputa: um estudo de caso sobre o tombamento da Igreja de São Pedro dos Pescadores

Abstract

Fortaleza presents two processes that express the configuration in which the city's cultural heritage is inserted: “on the one hand, verticalization, densification and segregation are observed”, often marked by the destruction or mischaracterization of historic goods and spaces; on the other, the discourse that it is necessary to “safeguard the 'history of the city'” (BARREIRA, 2012, p.). The Mucuripe neighborhood, located on the east side of Fortaleza, is an example of this dichotomy, by simultaneously adding a movement of growth and verticalization and the struggle of fishermen and residents to preserve the practices and spaces they use. It is the strip of beach in the neighborhood, located near the Church of São Pedro, where work (construction and repair of boats, sale of fish and other food), religious (Festa de São Pedro) and sociability activities are carried out. Such practices and spaces became the center of discussions, started in 2007, about the municipal listing of the Church of São Pedro dos Pescadores. Parallel to the process of listing, which was being processed by the Municipal Secretary of Culture, in 2008, the Secretariat of Tourism of Fortaleza started the bureaucratic procedures for the choice and execution of the Beira Mar Urban and Landscape Reorganization project. The way in which the patrimonial policy was carried out, especially with regard to the permanence of the practices performed by fishermen and their families, reveals disputes between them and the tourism sector (represented by the Beira Mar reform) and real estate. Based on this, the objective of the research is to unveil, through the narratives arising from the disputes over the municipal listing of the Church of São Pedro, how the sets of actors and powers involved manifest themselves and assign meanings to their actions, so as to , reflect on heritage policies with regard to the continuity of certain goods and ways of life. The theoretical-methodological contribution used to analyze the data collected (through field research and interviews) is based on the study of rituals, namely the category of social dramas (TURNER, 2008) and the method of situational analysis (VELSEN, 2010 ). Such research leads to the conclusion that the listing under analysis was not sufficient to legally support the continuity of practices related to fishermen.