Memórias e identidades do ser idoso - as experiências do centro municipal de convivência da família de Tefé (AM)

Abstract

Brazil is being the scene of a demographic transition. The human longevity phenomenon has raised new questions about the identities of these “new” elderly people. In this context, this research aims to understand how identity and memory are articulated, giving meaning to the aging process, through the perception of the elderly attended at the Municipal Center for Family Living in Tefé. It is a qualitative research, using oral history technique. The data collection occured in a período of four months, and for that we participate in activities with the elderly. In addition, interviews were carried out with twelve elderly people, of both sexes, aged between 60 and 89 years. All the interviewed are participants in the CMCF Renascer social group. For the elaboration of the work, we used fundamentals authors ideas such as: Norberto Bobbio (1997), Minayo and Coimbra Jr. (2002), Nobert Elias (2001), Ecléa Bosi (2003/2004), Maurice Halbwachs (2004), Jöel Candau (2005 / 2018), Stuart Hall (2006), Grita Debert (2012) and Simone de Beauvoir (2018). From the narratives, we observed issues related to life experiences, body transformations, changes in social roles and the construction of family ties, constituent elements of identities in a process of valuing memories. The Eni Orlandi Discourse Analysis methodology was used to analyzed the data produced. Thus, it was possible to demonstrate that the process of deconstructing identities is continuous, even in old age, and that aging is not a sad or painful process. Instead, it produces happy and pleasurable moments, which are registered in the memory. In summary, the aging process is a stage of life classified by the elderly, especially by elderly women, as the period of "being able to do" and "freedom". We found that reliving the past through memories is a way of giving new meaning to the present, having as reference the images and representations that fill our memory. This reflection allows us to classify the identity as a process in constant transformation and mutation.