Peasant Lived Experiences in the Federal District: The Geography of Childhood in the Countryside
Childhood; Lived Experience; Geography of Childhood; Rural Education; Cultural-Historical Theory.
This research proposal aims to investigate, from the perspective of the Geography of Childhood, how rural children experience and represent their lives through three key categories: labor, leisure, and school. Drawing on the framework of Historical-Cultural Theory, the study seeks to uncover the ways in which children engage with, interpret, and construct their worldview during childhood. The research will be conducted through participant observation and a methodology grounded in ethnographic principles, providing a foundation for identifying the meanings of childhood culture and its specific forms of intelligibility, representation, and symbolization of the world. The study will focus on three rural settlements and two schools that serve peasant children in the Federal District of Brazil, working with children in the early years of elementary education (ages 6 to 11). It will employ playful and narrative tools—such as experiential maps, drawing-interviews (dibujos-entrevista), and games—recognizing creativity and imagination as legitimate forms of knowledge. Central to the methodology is an attentive listening to the voices and actions of children’s groups. The research centers on the spatialities of social subjects during childhood, who, while struggling for land, also seek to live joyfully, honoring the unique dynamics of being a rural child.