Knowledge has been the center of discussions and keeps on being a fundamental aspect in facing contemporaneous complexity. In the world of work, particularly within public enterprises, overcoming the Cartesian paradigm and using new technologies as tools to produce network knowledge still is a challenge (Machado, 2001). The National Statistics Institutes, which serve states in their efforts to build up statistical knowledge about a certain country, are a part of this (Senra, 2005). Knowledge (Henssen, 2000) is a fundamental topic for the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística/Brazil [IBGE] and is present in its mission, its object and in most of its institutional documents. Activities at IBGE, like those of other National Statistics Institutes throughout the world, are focused on the production, analysis, research and dissemination of statistical knowledge about the country. IBGE, particularly, builds up statistical knowledge – demographical and socio-economical – and geoscientific knowledge within the fields of geography, cartography, geodesy and environmental studies (IBGE, 2003, 2007 and 2010). Studying the social representations (Moscovici, 1978) within this company is relevant. The studies of social representations of knowledge in IBGE make it possible to turn all attentions inward, towards understanding the roles played by employees in the making of the institution, unveiling their beliefs, perceptions, theories, and representations of knowledge. What are the social representations of IBGE employees on knowledge? How is it that the production and the possessing of knowledge take place in this enterprise, analyzed from the perspectives of its employees’ social representations on this topic?; What images, concepts and theories on knowledge support the relationships among its personnel?; What are the idiosyncrasies of their behavior in the construction of knowledge within the organization? Research on social representations (Moscovici, 1978; Sá, 1998; Jodelet, 1984, 2001a, 2001b) provide an insight that places relevance on individuals and their processes of construction and reconstruction of reality, their attitudes, conceptions and modus operandi in a well-defined spatial, historical and temporal context. The proposal of the Theory of Social Representations comprises the compilation of narratives on a certain topic, their analysis, and explanations of their formation processes, taking into account the knowledge of ordinary individuals and their influences on the intra and interpersonal relationships of a group’s production process. IBGE Portraits: social representations of knowledge. An analysis of formation processes for the 2000, 2007 and 2010 Censuses is bound to the Laboratorio para el Análisis del Cambio Educativo (LACE) of the Legal and Social Sciences PhD Program at the Universidad de Cádiz/Spain. It is one of its current studies on social representations of knowledge and its locus of study is the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics Foundation – IBGE. This study aims to describe and analyze processes of objectification and anchorage of knowledge through the perspective of perceptions, beliefs and knowledge of managers, specialists and instructors involved in the training for the 2000, 2010 (Demographical) and 2007 (Population Count) Censuses and describe and analyze social representations of knowledge in IBGE.

Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.). Handbook of qualitative research (3nd Ed.) (pp. 1-34). Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage. Gatti, B. (2005). Grupo focal na pesquisa em Ciências Sociais e Humanas. Brasília, DF: Liber Livro. Hessen, J. (2000). Teoria do conhecimento. São Paulo: Martins Fontes. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. (2003). Metodologia do Censo Demográfico 2000, Série Relatórios Metodológicos (Vol. 25). Rio de Janeiro: Author. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. (2007). Contagem da população 2007. Rio de Janeiro: Author. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. (2011). Sinopse do Censo Demográfico 2010. Rio de Janeiro: Author. Jodelet, D. (1984). La representación social: fenómenos, concepto y teoria. In: S. Moscovici. (Ed.). Psicologia social (pp. 31-61). Paris: Press Universitaires de France. Jodelet, D. (2001a). Representações sociais: um domínio em expansão. In D. Jodelet (Org.). As Representações Sociais (pp. 17-44). (L.Ulup, Trad.) Rio de Janeiro: EDUERJ. Jodelet, D. (2001b). Representaciones sociales: contribución a un saber socio cultural sin fronteras. In: D. Jodelet. (Org.). Develando la cultura. Estudios en representaciones sociales (pp. 7-30). Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. Machado, N. (2001). A Universidade e a organização do conhecimento: a rede, o tácito, a dádiva. Estudos Avançados 15,(42), p. 333-352. Moscovici, S. (1978). A representação social da psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar Editores. Sá, C. (1998). A construção do objeto de pesquisa em representações sociais. Rio de Janeiro: EDUERJ. Senra, N. (2005). O saber e o poder das estatísticas: uma história das relações dos estaticistas com os Estados nacionais e com as ciências. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE/Centro de Documentação e Disseminação de Informações. Yin, R. K. (2010). Estudo de caso: planejamento e métodos. Porto Alegre: Bookman