Raising, removing and resignifying the statues: an overview of the Brazilian experience

The paper explores the so-called "war of statues" and its consequences in Brazil, mainly from the perspective of the correlations between heritage, collective memory and cultural politics. This is an interpretative essay, with an interdisciplinary framework, and with a strong theoretical and methodological influence on history of concepts. The paper also dialogues with studies and research on the quality of democracy, especially in its dimension of Political Participation, including the Non-Conventional Political Participation - that is, protests, demonstrations, and/or collective action. Furthermore, some alternatives and best practices in the making of sectorial public policies are discussed and deliberated. The main argument of the manuscript suggests that, in the face of controversial or troublesome statues, the best alternatives would be to resignify or remove them.