Memórias em trilhos: curadoria educativa e as camadas da história ferroviária em Sete Lagoas

Abstract

This article explores how educational curation can challenge historical narratives, understood as social constructions (Maurice Halbwachs) and as manifestations of communicative and cultural memory (Jan and Aleida Assmann), using railway memories as a case study. Based on a comparative analysis of public materials from a project at the Railway Museum in Sete Lagoas (MG), as well as informal interviews and a structured questionnaire applied to one of the project’s coordinators, the study identifies a celebratory bias that softens conflicts and contributes to historical erasures, such as the violent dismantling of the Rede Ferroviária Federal S.A. (RFFSA) and its social impacts. As an alternative, we propose a poetic and pedagogical curatorship, grounded in theoretical frameworks by Barthes (studium/punctum), Kossoy (cultural filter), Barbosa (Triangular Approach), Dewey (transformative aesthetic experience), Vergara (museum as experience builder), and Freire (pedagogy of liberation), integrating both affective and analytical dimensions. The suggested method includes the use of photographs as poetic triggers, collaborative workshops for image selection and reinterpretation, personal testimonies, installations that represent patrimonial absences, and guided mediation to foster critical thinking. In conclusion, by placing non-formal education at the core of the exhibition process, the museum becomes a living space for learning and autonomy, embracing multiple memories and contributing to the construction of a more comprehensive historical consciousness.