The National Museum´s Fire in the “Mulheres do Resgate’s” narratives: developments and perspectives

Abstract

The National Museum’s/RJ fire was a disaster that represents a milestone in national history, due to the scientific and cultural human heritage´s destruction. It raises reflections on the construction of the institution's fire and post-fire memory based on conceptual connections among memory, places of memory and heritage. This article highlights the rescue effort, which encompasses recovering and treating the fragments and pieces of the collections recovered in the rubble of the Paço de São Cristóvão, the Museum´s headquarter, as one of the first resuming activities soon after the fire and, above all, a symbol of resistance. The narratives of the campaign “Mulheres do Resgate” (Rescue´s Women) posted on the National Museum´s social networks are analyzed in order to investigate how female researchers narrate the fire and the rescue, by observing their outcomes in their personal and professional lives as well as in the National Museum´s future. The results of the analysis are presented in five thematic axes – institutional routine, fire, post-fire, rescue and rebirth – grounded in both sociointeractional discourse analysis and social memory.  The “Mulheres do Resgate’s” performance works actively on the discursive transition from mourning to hope. Finally, the Rescue activity is driven by strong engagement of those involved in rebuilding the National Museum for society, by highlighting that the narratives told by those women are an integral part of the social construction of the institutional memory.