Mamucabas, teares e fios: a produção têxtil de rede de dormir como identidade, transmissão de saberes e sociabilidade em São Bento/PB

Abstract

The textile production of the hammock in São Bento/PB is intertwined with the history of construction, housing and sociability of the city, where even as a village, the manufacture of the product was already present among the families that lived there. Observed as one of the main local economic activities, the hammock generates jobs and income for those involved in the manufacturing process, and is also responsible for the low unemployment rate in the city, employing 80% of the workforce. The vast production of the textile product leads the city to be known as the “world capital of hammocks” and exporting the hammock to several cities and countries. Therefore, this research approached some people who work or have worked in the manufacturing process and provided an ethnography about the identity and sociability process from the transmission of knowledge of hammock makers in São Bento/PB. For this, the trajectory of the hammocks and hammocks was analyzed, in order to access the memories that the hammock allowed to generate. It was also observed the recognition devices and identity representations linked to hammocks, noting the existence of spaces such as Praça do Redeiro in addition to parties such as Arraiá Balançando a Rede and Festa do Caminhoneiro and also the use of the hammock as ornamentation, for example of the Christmas period. Transmission of knowledge regarding hammock production techniques among families occurs through observation, as reported by the interlocutors. The research was developed through oral history, in which it was possible to access their oral reports from memory and, through their speeches, analyze the trajectory of the interlocutors in relation to the production of the hammock.