“Quem bate cartão não enrica”
Memórias do Trabalho na Itapagé S/A em Coelho Neto, MA (1990-2000)
Abstract
This article aims to analyze how memories concerning the Itapagé S/A industry shaped the subjectivity of a former female worker, revealing the contradictions of the industrial development project in eastern Maranhão (Brazil). Starting from the context of industrialization driven by national policy in the 1970s, the methodology utilizes qualitative research with a focus on Oral History. The testimony of a single interlocutor is adopted as the main documentary corpus, triangulated with documentary sources (inspection reports) and periodical archives. The main results reveal the tension between a sophisticated system of moral and disciplinary control imposed by management and the company's own illegal practices. The study concludes that the former worker developed a "double consciousness," performing submission while maintaining a critical lucidity superior to that of management itself.
