Displacement of children in the districts of Curitiba, Brazil, and its relation to socialization processes

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14244/198271991231

This paper presents the influence that children’s mobility has on their socialization processes in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. The study was conducted with six children enrolled in public schools in Curitiba who live in three different regions: downtown, outskirts, and slums. The children’s parents were interviewed, the children were submitted to long talks, and field observations of the locations where they live were made. The collected data were analyzed based on the perspectives of urban sociology, socialization, and childhood. This research has demonstrated the existence of a range of possibilities concerning children’s mobility, even though these children are circumscribed by social and territorial issues which are common in globalized and disparate cities such as Curitiba. Facing a range of worries related to neighborhood mobility, children not only express their opinions and critically discuss them, showing they are aware of the dangers experienced, but also position themselves by using several logics of action, which demonstrate reflexive attitudes that may be incorporated into their own experience (LAHIRE, 2002).

Keywords: Childhood, City, Neighborhoods, Socialization.