Leitura de mundo e horizonte de expectativas : contribuições das crianças sem terrinha para a educação popular.

Abstract

This doctoral thesis addresses the reading of the world and the horizon of expectations of children from a settlement of Movimento de Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul (RS), and their contributions to popular education. The research participants are the children Sem Terrinha of the MST, established in 1984 and currently active in 24 Brazilian states with over 450,000 settled families. It is a popular movement in which family members live in a struggle for land as a community; therefore, children are part of the different activities of this struggle. In this context, and based on the question “How can the worldview and horizon of expectations of children from an MST agrarian reform settlement contribute to popular education?”, the thesis sought to map and characterize the territory of the settlement with the children who live there; to reflect with the children on the history of their families and the settlement, their daily lives and their participation in the movement; to identify and analyze the children's worldview and horizon of expectations; and to problematize the possible contributions of the Sem Terrinha children to popular education. In theoretical-epistemological terms, we take three axes as a frame of reference: the perspective of children and childhoods, popular education and (de)coloniality, and the reading of the world and horizon of expectations, in the condition of fundamental theoretical-analytical categories of research. Methodologically, the thesis was inspired by the practices of Popular Education and Participatory Research, developing a process of Systematization of Experience through the implementation of Dialogical Circles and play activities with children aged 6 to 11 years old, from an MST settlement in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre/RS. The analyses of the categories “reading the world” and “horizon of expectations” were organized into three phases each. In the first phase, the following generating themes that emerged from the work with the children in the settlement were chosen: nature and territory, family and social issues, and lastly, gender and race. For the “horizon of expectations” category, the three subcategories constructed were: play, childhood-world, and the manifesto letter of the Sem Terrinha children. Based on the study of the worldview and expectations of Sem Terrinha children, we identified that one of the important contributions to popular education is the social commitment to childhood and its needs. Working with limit-situations and generating themes that emerged in the research reflected on nature and territory, family and society, gender and race, articulated with the importance of play, childhood, and the world. In this way, we were able to understand that working with popular classes through a liberating education, their understanding of the world, and the problematization of limit-situations can also be enhanced by the children's experiences and their expectations.