Landscapes of Memory and Oblivion in I'm Still Here, by Marcelo Rubens Paiva

• Grant number: 24/21581-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning
• Principal Investigator: Solange Moura Lima de Aragão
• Grantee: Isadora Paulino dos Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Presidente Prudente. Presidente Prudente , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The book Still I Am Here, by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, uses an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the relationship established between memory, architecture, and landscape (and their poetics) in the specific context of Alzheimer's disease, considering its main character, Eunice Paiva. Thus, using this work as the object of study and texts by authors such as Ecléa Bosi, Aziz Ab' Saber, Milton Santos, Pierre Nora, Gaston Bachelard, Arthur Simões Caetano Cabral, and Yi-Fu Tuan as the theoretical basis, this research seeks to understand how the family spaces and landscapes described in the book can act as anchors of memory and identity for individuals affected by the disease. To this end, the methodology combines literary interpretation, theoretical review, and fieldwork that seeks to trace the affective geography of Eunice Paiva, considering the physical and symbolic changes and transformations resulting from the military dictatorship, and the meanings of these landscapes in the life of the Paiva family, as well as the subsequent impact of Alzheimer's on the resignification of these spaces. It is expected that this study will contribute to generating a reflection on the importance of landscapes and places with emotional meaning for elderly people with Alzheimer's. (AU)