Passos de professores em rastros da metrópole: explorando geo-grafias docentes

Abstract

In this essay we will work from the presupposition that teachers are socio-cultural subjects and not simply professionals, understanding their lives not only through an aprehension of events occuring within the school but also in other spaces and moments of their social existence (Teixeira, 1999). In this sense we intend to explore the geo-graphies of teachers in big cities, a metaphor designating these subject-teacher's spacial practices, seeking to understand the feelings, senses and meanings with which these practices become associated and which are attributed to them (Lefebvre, 1974; Harvey, 2003). The study of such a theme, still relatively unexplored in Brazilian educational research, justifies itself in the possiblity of creating practices expressive of a politics of care (Teixeira, 2008), a politics of affect (Le Ven, 2008) and a politics of the city directed toward recognising the interests ofteachers (Lefebvre, 1969). The exploratory investigation was developed using both analysis of bibliographical material and 23 (twenty three) semi-structured interviews realized between June and August of 2010 with teachers who work in the third cycle of the public education network of the city of Contagem/MG. In interpreting the collected data the following categories were used: the city and the urban (Lefebvre, 1974, 2008; Santos, 2008; Certeau, 2008); a discussion of the senses andmeanings attributed to the house where the teacher lives, using the opposition between the house and the street (De Matta, 1979); a discussion of the idea of pieces (Magnani, 1998) and also a consideration of familiari(cities). We also dealt with questions related to spatial modalities such as pathes, courtyards, and doorways (Magnani, 1998) which were manifest in the lives of the teachers considered. Finally we looked at educa(cities) and what Mayol (2008) calls conviniences. It can also be shown that the geo-graphies of the teachers varied according to modes of transport used, the teacher's familial situation, time spent teaching, ways of teaching, number of shifts, time dedicated both within and outside the school to teaching, their own conception of their work, and modes of transport used, amongst others. It is also salient to note that the teacher's geo-graphies in big cities can be characterized using, amongst other elements, the senses, feelings and meanings awakened by the house, by the pathways, and by educa(cities) present in their lives.