A construção da identidade na Região Colonial Italiana : o processo de modernização e urbanização como fator de memória e esquecimento do Frigorífico Rizzo, em Caxias do Sul - 1938 a 1960

Abstract

This master‟s thesis aims to deepen the theme of social identity representation in the Italian Colonization Region (RCI, from the Portuguese expression Região de Colonização Italiana), in Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, since it is possible to observe that much of the historiography tended to identify that the process of modernization and urbanization from the late nineteenth century, in Caxias do Sul, was mainly focused on the success/progress of the metal-mechanic industry. However, it has sought to demonstrate that other production branches, for example, the food industry, was also part of the historical business process of Caxias do Sul, but it is usually not addressed by the historiography of regional identity which helped suppressing the value of companies such as Frigorífico Rizzo, located in the current Desvio Rizzo neighborhood, which in the 1930s was about 8 kilometers far from the urban area of Caxias do Sul. It is believed that because it was located outside the urban area, and also because there was a slaughterhouse in that place, this has contributed to its stigmatization as well as to suppressing its importance in the regional development.