Com quantos fios se tece uma trama? Uma análise de registros e produções de memórias institucionais da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (1969–2000)

Abstract

This text refers to research, in the line of History and Historiography of Education, which investigates the constitution of the University in Brazil. Its purpose is to uncover the possible history of the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), from 1969 to 2000, through records created by the institution. The sources used are a set of documents organized and stored under the custody of the General Secretariat of the UFU and two books of a memorial nature: A UFU no Imaginário Social and Primeiros Tempos. The objective is to understand the historiographical possibilities, highlighting intrinsic and extrinsic processes of constitution of the institution. Documentary analysis is used as a methodological tool, associated with content analysis, maintaining theoretical dialogue with classic and current thinkers in the History of Education and Higher Education, highlighting Chauí (2001, 2003, 2016), Cunha (1983, 1986, 1988, 1989), Motta (2008, 2014, 2018), Sanfelice (2008, 2009, 2015) and Saviani (1997, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013). The research highlighted elements of uniqueness observable in the sources, which allowed the relationship between the institution and the historical period. It is noteworthy that UFU is a University born from the civil-military dictatorship, shortly after the University Reform of 1968, and carries the signs of this context. Its consolidation as an institution takes place amid the redemocratization of Brazil, which is why it produces its own path of existence in the period, which helps to highlight the potential limits of the process of democratic recovery. The legal parameters and regulations of Higher Education that permeated the period are highlighted, both in the broadest sense, from national legislation, such as laws nº 5540/1968 and nº 9394/1996, as well as the regulations of the UFU, such as its statutes. The memories articulated by the aforementioned books show the amplification of some voices, even if the set of interviews was varied. It is revealed that the work with the specific HEI provides elements of understanding of the comprehensive reality of Higher Education through its particularities rather than through its elements common to all institutions of this type. As a result of this thesis, it can be seen that the UFU was established during the 20th century under the aegis of the post-1964 dictatorship period, which had lasting effects on its constitution, at the same time that it expanded the possibility of access to the University in the region, as well as contributing to regional development.