Vivências de mães-indígenas na universidade : desafios e possibilidades da implementação das políticas de ações afirmativas.

Abstract

The inclusion of Indigenous women in higher education represents a significant social achievement, but one still marked by challenges related to gender coloniality and intercultural intersections. This research, linked to the Professional Master's Program in Psychology at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul (UNISC), falls within the Area of Concentration in Mental Health and Social Practices and the Research Line in Social Practices, Organizations and Culture, articulating subjective, social, and institutional dimensions of care in the academic context. The study aimed to understand the academic, cultural, and family experiences of Indigenous mothers regularly enrolled in undergraduate or graduate courses at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), emphasizing how mothering practices, interculturality, and mental health intersect in the university experience. A qualitative approach was adopted, with ethnographic and collaborative inspiration, grounded in Freirean principles of dialogue and horizontality, which allowed for a sensitive and in-depth listening to the experiences of these women. Two Indigenous mothers (Parintintim and Xokleng) participated in the study, agreeing to participate based on their availability and active connection with the university. Data collection occurred through field notes compiled throughout the investigative process, direct observation in living and study spaces, and the holding of Culture Circles, which fostered the sharing of knowledge, the strengthening of support networks, and the collective construction of meaning. The data analysis, conducted through the identification of units of meaning in the transcripts of the Culture Circles and using an interpretive qualitative approach, revealed not only the obstacles faced in the university context - such as prejudice, an overload of responsibilities, and cultural invisibility - but also strategies of resistance, solidarity, and shared care present in the narratives of the Indigenous student-mothers. The study highlighted the importance of collaborative mothering, the recognition of cultural specificities, and the formulation of institutional policies for retention that include the presence of children in academic spaces. The technical output resulting from the research consisted of the creation of didactic material in audiovisual format, entitled “Between networks and resistances: voices of indigenous mothers at the university”. Thus, the technical product materializes the professional master's program's commitment to social transformation and the practical applicability of the knowledge produced, by articulating research, the development of intervention tools, and the analysis of social and institutional practices present in organizations and communities in different cultural contexts. It concludes that access to university, in itself, does not guarantee permanence: it is necessary to broaden active listening and concrete actions to transform the academic environment into a space of affection, resistance, and belonging. The research contributed to the strengthening of intercultural knowledge, articulating psychology, education, and mental health, and pointed to paths for positive intergenerational impacts, by promoting the appreciation of indigenous cultures and their own ways of living, caring, and learning.