Relações de cuidado entre crianças e adultas: um estudo em uma escola de ensino fundamental na periferia de Belo Horizonte

Abstract

The central aim of this thesis is to analyze the relationships of care between 6/7-year-old children living on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte, who attended the first year of primary school at a municipal school, and the adults who interacted with them in the school environment. The thesis' theoretical framework combines references from feminist care studies with Childhood Studies and the field of Education. The field research was based on an ethnographic approach, with the following data production procedures: participant observation; document analysis; drawings; photographs; group interviews with the children; questionnaires sent to the families, and interviews with the adults. The results show that the health crisis had an impact on relationships of care at the school, which were intensified not only by the increased concern with hygiene, the use of masks and distancing, but also in the relationships between the children and the adults, who were constantly worried about the possibility of their own illness and/or that of their family members, which led to an increase in the emotional work involved in caring. We also analyzed the centrality that different adults occupied in caring for the children in the institution, even though there was a differentiation between those who carried out relational care and those who met the children's bodily care demands. The latter meant their work to be based on a sense of responsibility, love, and motherhood, producing an ethic of care, the fruit of their lifelong experiences caring in the periphery. Concerning the meanings and experiences of care from the children's perspective, we observed the importance of their peers as social actors capable of caring. This care is constituted through relationships of help in and out of the classroom, friendship, and play, intertwined by gender, kinship, and age group, in which caring and receiving care are inseparable in their experiences. These relationships are also crossed by negotiations and ambivalence, which reflect power relations between the children, as well as with the adults. We also analyzed how these children took care of their sick mothers, aunts, and grandmothers, both in their homes and on the street, by doing household chores and looking after pets, sisters, cousins, and nieces. Although these actions blurred the boundaries of the social imaginary of what would or would not be appropriate for children to do in this age group, we identified that, from these experiences, they participated in the daily life of their families, contributing to the sustainability of life in that locality. The results of this thesis show that these children, who live on the outskirts of the city, even at a young age, are an active part of the care relationships they produce inside and outside of school.