Memórias e dissidências: um estudo a partir das narrativas de mulheres feirantes da Feira do Produtor Rural de Castanhal-PA

Abstract

This research emerged from my perspective as a woman and researcher observing the Feira do Produtor Rural in Castanhal, Pará — a space deeply connected to my family and personal experiences. Among the market stalls, voices, and stories of labor, the desire arose to understand the trajectories of the women vendors and the ways they construct their memories, identities, and resistances to socially and historically imposed gender norms. The dissertation aims to analyze these women’s narratives, seeking to understand how everyday experiences become practices of autonomy and dissidence. Grounded in authors such as Joan Scott, Simone de Beauvoir, Michel de Certeau, and Judith Butler, this study adopts a qualitative approach and employs Oral History as its main method, valuing listening and memory as fields of knowledge production. The interviews conducted with vendors associated with AFEPRUC revealed stories marked by inequalities, but also by strategies of confrontation, solidarity, and self-invention. By revisiting their memories, these women construct narratives that give meaning to their lived experiences and challenge historical silences, transforming the market into a territory of resistance and visibility. Thus, the study shows that the street market is more than a workspace: it is a place of belonging, memory, and female affirmation. By combining theory and sensitive listening, this dissertation highlights the epistemological value of women’s narratives as forms of knowledge and resistance, contributing to the debates on gender, memory, and oral history in the Amazonian context.