Where are the children?

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14244/198271991082

This article examines the relationship between children and spaces for social interaction in the city of Nova Iguaçu, Brazil, to understand what childhood could give us to think about the present. Through what happens in public spaces, we highlight the absence and the presence of children to propose an approach to childhood as an inquiring force pointing to the action of becoming which constitutes incompleteness. It is understood that the places – sometimes intertwined, sometimes separate – provide forms of sociability. In pursuit of this understanding, it became essential to venture along Via light, chosen as the reference element. The images collected in the spaces from Via Light, in Nova Iguaçu, consisted in bringing the narrative as the basis of theoretical and methodological approach. Questions arise: What childhood may provide us to think today? What sociabilities are produced in the spaces of social interaction? We seek to achieve this reflection bringing images of squares, emphasizing modes of occupation, relationships of interaction, objects present there, users and location. The importance of a reflection on the relationship between childhood and the city is due to concern about the disappearance of childhood. In support of this issue, we sought contributions of Agamben´s, Bauman’s and Harvey’s understanding of childhood and the city, respectively.

Keywords: Childhood, Education, City, Sociabilities.