Filho (é) da mãe (?): famílias monoparentais femininas no contexto de uma escola pública em Salvador-Ba

Abstract

The objects of this dissertation are female single-parent families, in the context of a public school in Salvador-Ba. Our general goal was to investigate the single parenthood of women-mothers in a territory of vulnerabilities such as the Subúrbio Ferroviário area, in Salvador. Our specific objectives were: i) to identify the family configurations of students enrolled in the afternoon shift at Colégio Estadual Clériston Andrade; ii) to describe the familiar configurations of these students, and iii) to investigate the idiosyncrasies of motherhood experienced by women-mothers from single-parent families in a territory of vulnerabilities such as the Subúrbio Ferroviário of Salvador. This is a quali-quantitative and exploratory case study, in a ethnosociological perspective; the epistemological construction is based on the ecology of knowledges, whose approach is predominantly forged in the black feminist epistemology, but also dialogues with the marxist feminism of Heleieth Saffioti. The discussions were guided by: Sueli Carneiro, bell hooks, Patrícia Collins, Angela Davis, Lélia Gonzalez, Beatriz Nascimento, Oyèrónkẹ Oyěwùmí, Ochy Curiel, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Walter Mignolo, Joaze Bernardino-Costa, Nelson Maldonado-Torres and Ramón Grosfoguel. We chose bibliographic research and field research as investigation techniques. Data collection took place through informal contacts with women-mothers, a socio-educational profile questionnaire used by the investigated educational institution, as well as my point of view (outsider within) as a researcher and black woman from the periphery. It should be noted that, due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, we could not use the data collection technique that would allow us the build life narratives for the subjects of this research. The women-mothers of single-parent families reflected that the serious health, political and economic crisis in the country has a greater impact on the black, poor, peripheral population, mostly women, confirming that social and racial inequalities in Brazil are grounded in a matrix of colonial, patriarchal, and classist intersectional oppression. The departure from school imposed by the new coronavirus brought new forms of interaction and, concomitantly, confirmed its physical importance as a support network for these families. Sons and daughters 'are from the mother', because they are the main providers of care and economic resources, as evidenced by the predominant number of family configurations that are specifically single-parent females. The diversity of family configurations found demonstrates that these children and adolescents belong to grandparents, uncles/aunts, cousins, neighborhood, school, community, since these bonds are, in addition to bonds of solidarity, love, friendship, survival strategies and, why not, resistance to a State that denies them from their rights, there are insufficient and/or ineffective social assistance policies.