Children and transmission lines in São Luís: Methodological perspectives of a research on children's representations

• Main Author: Emilene Leite Sousa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Estadual de Londrina 2019-08-01
• Series: Mediações: Revista de Ciências Sociais
• Subjects: crianças; linhas de transmissão; metodologia; representações; protagonismo infantil
• Online Access: http://www.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/mediacoes/article/view/35291

This article revisits the research conducted on the presence of communities in the Eletronorte transmission line servitude bands in São Luís, to reflect on methodological perspectives in the research on children's representations. Although the children were not considered in the initial project - whose objective was to analyze the representations and relationships that rural communities of São Luís established with the Eletronorte equipment, - I was surprised by the child protagonism. Therefore, considering the children in the field became essential to account for the objectives of the research in its entirety, which is the discussion made in this article. In addition to a methodological analysis, we verified the children's representations about the equipment, the company and the easement range, and identified the child actions supported by these representations through techniques such as informal conversations and drawings made by the children, thus composing an ethnography. Thus, although research is not defined as research with or specifically about children, through this analytical framework, we demonstrate the importance of taking children as research subjects like any other field variable - men, women, the elderly - under penalty of not fully understand a given reality.