Dos trilhos do trem ao jornal “Correio da Pedra”: uma viagem ao início do processo educativo no percurso da estrada de ferro Paulo Afonso – Piranhas (AL) a Jatobá (PE) - (1879-1930)

Abstract

This research proposes to analyze the pedagogical and cultural practices of the schools that bordered the Estrada de Ferro Paulo Afonso (Paulo Afonso Railroad), published in the newspaper Correio da Pedra, between 1922 and 1930. The chronological cut refers to 1922 as the year of the first edition that it was possible to locate and 1930 as the year in which the weekly had its last publication. This study is part of the field of History of Education and constitutes a qualitative examination of the historical, documentary, and bibliographic knowledge that shares principles defended by Cultural History. The theoretical-methodological foundations that support this work meet the concepts of “civilization”, upheld by Norbert Elias, articulated to the visions of “modernity”, used by Justino Magalhães, and to the ideas of “representation”, “appropriation”, and “materiality”, by Roger Chartier, which contributed to the analysis process of the collected data. Among the proposed documentary sources are the weekly newspaper Correio da Pedra, as a primary source, and also laws, decrees, official letters, and photographs. The documentary sources that guide our research are in the collection of the Historical and Geographical Institute of Alagoas – IHGAL and the Public Archive of Alagoas – APA. In this sense, it is understood that the arrival of the railroad and the initiatives of these men contributed to modify the local physiognomy and helped in the constitution of a new dynamic in the society of the time.