LIFE NARRATIVES AND POPULAR EDUCATION AT THE ITATIM YOUTH DETENTION CENTER (BA): MEMORIES, KNOWLEDGE, AND RESISTANCE

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.0558632603062

• Palavras-chave: EJAI; Itatim-BA; Popular education; Life narratives; Memory.

• Keywords: EJAI; Itatim-BA; Popular education; Life narratives; Memory.

• Abstract:

  This article focuses on the life narratives of students in the Education for Youth, Adults, and the Elderly (EJAI) program in the municipality of Itatim (BA), with the aim of understanding how these life trajectories reveal practices of popular education, community knowledge, and processes of resistance and identity. The research is based on the assumption that life stories constitute legitimate sources of knowledge and, therefore, should be recognized as formative and political tools capable of shedding light on dimensions rarely addressed by formal education. EJAI, as a public policy for inclusion, faces historical challenges such as school dropout rates, social stigma, the lack of specific teacher training, the scarcity of contextualized teaching materials, and the fragility of educational policies. Despite these limitations, it has established itself as a fundamental space for guaranteeing rights, citizenship, and historical reparation, especially in rural and peripheral municipalities such as Itatim. In this context, listening to and valuing life narratives represent a way to recover silenced memories and affirm the centrality of ordinary people in the construction of knowledge and the struggle for social recognition. The theoretical framework is anchored in Freirean pedagogy, which understands education as a practice of freedom, dialogue, and humanization (FREIRE, 1996; 2005). It also engages with studies of memory (HALBWACHS, 1990), life narratives (BERTAUX, 2010), and popular education (BRANDÃO, 1984, 2002), emphasizing that individual memory is always socially mediated and that the school can serve as a space for cultural revaluation, resistance, and emancipation. From a methodological standpoint, the research adopted a qualitative approach, with an emphasis on narrative research, seeking to capture the meanings attributed by the subjects to their educational trajectories. The narrative interviews, conducted in different locations in Itatim, were complemented by focus groups, participant observation, reflective journals, and documentary analysis, comprising a set of instruments that will allow for a pluralistic listening to the experiences and memories of the students. The thematic analysis of the accounts made it possible to identify clusters of meaning related to memory, identity, popular knowledge, and pedagogical practices. The study was justified by the need to produce critical knowledge that strengthens EJAI as an educational policy grounded in rights, dignity, and emancipation. By centering life narratives, the study sought to contribute to the development of pedagogical practices that are more democratic, dialogic, and sensitive to local realities, recognizing the research participants not merely as objects of study, but as protagonists of processes of resistance and social transformation. Thus, the article aims to contribute both to academic scholarship on popular education, memory, and narratives, and to the concrete practice of teachers and administrators committed to an inclusive and humanizing education.