Railway History and Academic Research: Consolidation of the Topic in Postgraduate Studies in Brazil (1972-2016)

ABSTRACT The main goal of this paper is to broadly present dissertations or theses dedicated to the topic of railways from the creation of postgraduate programs in Brazil until the current days, between 1972 and 2016. Our intention is to problematize the changes and theoretical or methodological tendencies in the various periods stipulated for analysis, thus presenting an overview of these academic works, with an emphasis on the sources and historiographic foundations used, and on the places of production and interpretation/approach of the railway as an object of study. Finally, we discuss whether the railway historical studies actually changed or not throughout the studied period. As sources, we used the dissertations, which were selected after a previous reading; we then chose those that presented methodologies and problematizations regarding History, even if from other areas (CNPq).