Between Tradition and Creation: Ceramics in the Upper Ribeira Valley

Abstract

This article aims to present educational processes from the ceramic creation of pottery groups from Alto Vale do Ribeira, located in the south of the state of São Paulo – Brazil. The ceramic tradition in this region dates back many generations, being the result of deep connections of its residents with the ancestry of this place. Based on the preliminary results of the doctoral research in progress, we turn to this social practice aiming to find the meanings shared by the ceramists that provide an opportunity to reflect on the values of this clay activity and, in this regard, the dimensions that can strengthen the links between creation and tradition. As a methodological procedure, we collected speeches from the potters and analyzed them according to the procedure of analysis of the situated phenomenon. The category presented here is entitled: “I have love for what I do” and deals with certain specificities operating in popular work with clay, the materialized experiences that reveal their domain in dynamics that affirm social identities while expressing and renewing their collective sense.