Memórias de um mundo congelado : a indústria lobeira e as expêriencias antárticas no século XIX

Abstract

Starting from the relationship between memory and alimentation, this research seeks to discuss the multiple ways that people relate and interact with the world and how it is incorporated. This incorporation is understood not in the sense of bringing something inside us that is pre-existing, but rather in the sense of internalizing a bond generated through our lived experiences. With this goal in mind, new ways of understanding memory that move away from classical visions to consider others that perceive it as a way of relating with the world and reality are discussed. From this new vision about memory, ways of observing food and memory were established through the lines of documentary and archaeological evidence. This methodological proposal was applied to a specific case study, the sealer voyages made in the 19th century. I consider that the sealer’s study case, more specifically those who traveled to the South Shetland Islands, represents an interesting case study for several reasons. In the first place, because it is possible to bring to the discussion the ways in which people deal with and become acquainted with the encounters. Secondly, this context allows to observe these questions through the archaeological and documentary lines of evidence. In order to consider this industry in all its complexity, multiple moments that were part of the sealer voyages from the ports of origin to the Antarctic hunting grounds were considered. To address all these moments, several documents such as log-books, diaries and crew lists -in the case of the written evidence- and the campsites located and excavated in the Byers Peninsula of the Livingston Island (South Shetland, Antarctica)- in the case of the material evidence- were used. Through this research, it is hoped to make a critical and reflective reformulation in order to discuss the idea of Antarctica as a pre-existing and objective place, conceived independently of the people who were there.