As bonequinhas da sorte de Gravatá-PE, no contexto do processo folkcomunicacional e do desenvolvimento local

Abstract

In the city of Gravatá, state of Pernambuco, a cloth hand-sewed doll is the local symbol and widens the borders for being commercialized in other countries. This research, through the perspective of Folk communication (a theory conceived by the journalist Luiz Beltrão in the 1960's to study popular-level communication procedures), aims at understanding the mediatic scenarios, contexts and processes that involve production, sale and comprehension of the meanings acquired by "Gravatá’s Lucky Doll", as well as the sort of contribution it enables to local development. As for data collection one has used: field, bibliographic and documentary researches, besides publications on the internet, interviews, photo records and interviews with social actors in charge of manufacturing and commercializing the object. Through these elements, one has revealed the aspects that justify the popularity of such lucky doll and its plural significations. This study comprises cultural and social content, symbolic and discursive content, re-signification, re-functionalization and reconversion, as well as folkmarketing, marketing and institutional communication strategies which influence the object, thus leading to visualize to what extent the lucky doll may represent and foster local development.