WIND, SAIL AND STEAM… PATHS OF LAND AND SEA: A study on the Landscape of Cultural Interest of Camocim/CE values.
Cultural Landscape; Cultural Heritage; Valuation; Camocim/CE.
This research examines the heritage values of the landscape of Camocim/CE, at the mouth of the Coreaú River, based on the framework of cultural landscape. In 2011, the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) interrupted the process of recognizing this landscape as a Brazilian cultural landscape, finding that the “bastard” boats, peculiar vessels present in Camocim, were not originally from this place. Facing such an argument, which is based on a single aspect of this landscape, one wonders whether it can be recognized according to an holistic notion of cultural landscape. The purpose of this research is to verify the existence of heritage attributes related to the landscape of Camocim, through the application of a valuation method adapted from the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage (IAPH) and based on the approach of the European Landscape Convention (ELC). This qualitative investigation adopts three descriptive methods: a literature review, documentary research and phenomenological reading of place. The chosen approach begins with characterizing regional landscapes in order to then select representative, singular or homogeneous local landscapes and inter-relate the exceptional and everyday dimensions of the heritage. Thus, this research recommends the creation of the Cultural Landscape of the Northwest Coast of Ceará (PC-LNC) and the Cultural Landscape of the Camocim-Sobral Railway Branch (PCRFC), related, respectively, to the fishing tradition of the Ceará dunes coast and to the society resulting from the occupation of the northwestern region by rail. Then, this research presents aspects that are unique to the Landscape of Cultural Interest of Camocim (PICC) since the landscape expresses in a unique way the values of those cultural landscapes, given the presence of large numbers of “bastard” boats and the significant port and railway heritage of that territory. Furthermore, its perceptivespatial and social configuration denotes cultural and identity aspects, such as the fishing activity in canoes in the cove of the Coreaú River and the affective relationship between residents and historical places of the city. The essay concludes that the PICC deserves to be recognized and preserved as a heritage asset, even in national scope.