Pedro Braga: frontiers between orality, writing, history, and memory

Abstract

Abstract: The article analyzes Pedro Braga's role as a mediator at the intersection of orality, writing, memory, and history, focusing on his work as a preserver of the culture of the Povoado do Vau, located in Diamantina, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Despite his limited access to formal education, Braga dedicated himself to recording oral histories, traditions, and collective memories of the community, using notebooks to document events and cultural practices passed down orally. The text highlights how his writing serves both as a tool of resistance against forgetting and as a bridge to transcend the boundaries of memory and orality. Furthermore, the article emphasizes Braga's significance as a figure who navigates between distinct worlds, preserving, reinterpreting, and ensuring the continuity of Vau's cultural narratives, even in a context of declining oral tradition.