Trabalho profissional em meio aos grilhões : a historiografia do Serviço Social no sistema prisional do Amazonas

Abstract

The research deals with history and memory in Social Work, by retrieving and analyzing the genesis of Social Work in the Penitentiary System of the State of Amazonas, based on the memories of the professionals who experienced it. The main objective of the dissertation was to analyze the historical trajectory of the genesis and development of Social Work in the prison system in the state of Amazonas. The specific objectives were: to correlate the genesis of Social Work and the prison system in Amazonas; to highlight the socio-historical conditions in which the first steps in the organization of the work of social workers in the prison system in Amazonas took place; to characterize the plurality of demands placed on social workers within the prison system in Amazonas in the 20th century. The research focused on the historical period of the 20th century, taking into account the creation of the first House of Detention in Manaus in 1907 and the official foundation of the Manaus School of Social Work in 1941. The methodological framework used was historical-dialectical materialism, with a mixed theoretical-methodological approach, including qualitative and quantitative data. For this study, bibliographical and documentary sources were collected, covering the period from 1940 to 1990. Among these, we identified course conclusion papers, articles in the Jornal do Commercio and A Crítica, various editions of the Official Gazette of the State of Amazonas, among others, in order to locate relevant information about the presence of social workers in prisons. The field research was based on oral history; the testimonies of six social workers who worked in different prison units between 1970 and 2000 were collected. The results show that it was from 1967 onwards that the work of the Social Worker was institutionalized in the then Central Penitentiary of the State. The Amazonas prison system was only structured in 1982 and since then new units have been created in which Social Work has been present. It was possible to identify the plurality of demands faced by these professionals. Through the triangulation of bibliographical and documentary research and the oral accounts collected in the field research, a historiographical record was made of part of the history of Social Work in Amazonas, which had been under the shadows. It aims to help old and new generations of social workers learn about the legacy of these professionals in Amazonas prisons.