The social construction of childhood in public policy, scientific discourses and social practices

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14244/198271991152

The paper aims to discuss the conceptions of childhood assistance public policies and to observe the chronological order in which they have been presented. It appears that childhood and its conceptions have accommodated to different social positions, as a result of their class origins, gender, ethnicity/race, and thus public policies also assume different characters (punitive, assistance, compensation, educational and others). In order to contextualize the analysis, the study emphasizes the plurality of black childhoods whose racializing processes to which they are historically submitted demand for specific policies. It addresses the specificity of the quilombolas and considers them as a place of non-formal education. The Guidelines for School Quilombola Education have been built by listening to quilombola communities from different regions and generations. In this inter-generational and spatial meeting, children grow within a dynamic social movement that makes them active participants in the processes of claims and changes regarding the recognition and restoration of rights, which have been neglected by the Brazilian State so far.

Keywords: Public policy, Education, Childhood, Quilombo.