The social construction of childhood and Maricota sem dona: narrative fragments in education research

Abstract

This article discusses the social construction of childhood underpinned in the dialogue among theoretical elements from the sociology of childhood; a child-targeted literary work, Maricota sem dona (Mazzetti, 1985); and some of Walter Benjamin’s fragments (1987, 1994a, 1994b, 1994c, 2005). Methodology-wise, to build-up this research’s materiality, there is a problematization of the Narrator’s experience (Benjamin, 1994c) and of the view of the child diversity experienced in different social, cultural, ethnic, economic and political contexts, aiming to give visibility and appreciation to the cultures of childhood. As for the contributions of this research, children are acknowledged as social subjects that are active and historical, as well as owners of rights and producers of culture, through their peer relationships. This article also emphasizes the centrality of the production of the peer culture in childhood, which is about getting integration, insertion and social acknowledgement, in order to have autonomy.
Keywords:   ; ; narratives