A encruzilhada do silêncio: um estudo de memória, oralidade e silenciamento com mulheres do município de faro (Pará), a terra da feitiçaria.

Abstract

Our study is built upon the oral memories of two women born in the 1960s in the municipality of Faro, in western Pará—a place characterized within the regional collective oral imagination as the “Land of Sorcery.” Using Oral History methodology, the research aims to understand—through the life paths of these women (given the pseudonyms *Senhora das Plantas* [Lady of the Plants] and *Curadora* [Healer])—the formation, reproduction, and silencing of their memories in a place that seemingly stigmatizes their presence and practices. Initially, the study addresses the concept of memory and notions of silence to facilitate a discussion on the silencing of both the collaborators' life stories and the history of the municipality of Faro itself. Subsequently, the research explicitly analyzes—linking memory and the imaginary as a necessary framework for considering our collaborators' narratives—how the invention of a “Land of Sorcery” is tied to the reproduction of colonial and colonizing discourses. Finally, we pursue an inquiry that not only unveils the knowledge and lived experiences of these two women but also—by highlighting processes of symbolic exclusion—reveals everyday tactics of resistance that have been overshadowed by silence and stigma. Furthermore, our interdisciplinary research operates at the intersection of History, Sociology, and Anthropology, aiming to be an academic work committed to the subjects and territories under study. To some extent, we commit to a counter-colonial approach by valuing women's oral accounts and experiences, thereby positioning ourselves in opposition to so-called Western epistemologies that have historically marginalized and silenced subaltern perspectives—particularly those of non-white women. Therefore, we believe the study can also be read as an act of resistance and epistemic re-evaluation, helping to valorize voices that were silenced yet persisted in the oral memory of Amazonian peoples.