Enlace de Corpos: Diário de um professor negro na educação infantil

Abstract

This work takes the body as its central axis. That said, it is worth asking: which body? Given the multitude of corporealities, concepts, and images about the body, deciding which body to address becomes a territorial matter. In other words, where does this body come from? Where is it born, and where does it extend to? Certainly, this will not be about a foreign body, or about a culture that does not express the singularity of the bodies situated within the territory from which this writing emerges. The body discussed here is, above all, a Brazilian body, from the periphery, accustomed to weaving through the entrails of life and extracting smiles from its harshness. A poetic body, molded from clay, mud, and dust. A working-class body, from the favelas, used to brushing against and mingling with the crowd and the masses. This is the body that will be explored, particularly the body of the child from this territory—a boy’s, a girl’s, and a non-binary child’s body that plays and dances, leaps and balances along the winding lines of a uniquely Brazilian existence. Being a child here requires rhythm and agility, dodging malicious gazes, doctrines, and dogmas that attempt to harden the fabric sustaining the singular existence of each individual. Thus, this work is characterized by a qualitative approach to the subject, presented through the lens of narrative research, which is grounded in reflecting on and highlighting my own experience as a teacher as both a tool and a method of analysis. Both my intellectual formation and my practice within the school environment emerge as material to be investigated, reading the world from my perspective as a subject of knowledge shaped within a specific time and place. First, I narrate my experiences in school as a Black child; subsequently, my time in university and academic training; and finally, my embodiment as a teacher in the school setting. I conclude with a reflection on the importance of experience and the body in Early Childhood Education, exploring how being engaged and intertwined creates a network of transformative affections that give meaning and purpose to education.