Image and history

methodological challenges for the work-education field

Abstract

This article proposes a methodological reflection on the use of photography as a source for historical research in the field of work-education, based on a dialogue with some authors who think of the photographic object, its monumental and documentary character, the status and value of photography as a source available for use. From the images belonging to the Archive and Documentation Department of the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz / Fiocruz, I tried to analyze the working relationships at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, currently the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), in its first three decades of activity, from the universe of the laboratory assistants of the scientists. Understanding that an image is and is not at the same time, it shows and conceals, the photographs that portray the laboratory assistants of the Institute, carry a historical sense when perceived in the set of social relations of production of existence, in a given context, reflecting conceptions and ideologies related to current technical workers and, in our particular case, to current technical health workers.