KIDS FLYING KITES: REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDHOOD IN AN URBAN SQUATTERS’ SETTLEMENT.

representações de infâncias em uma ocupação urbana

Abstract

This article examines the representations of childhood that permeate the reality of children who live in MLB (Movimento de Luta nos Bairros, Vilas e Favelas, or Movement of Neighborhood, Settlement and Favela Struggles) urban squatters’ settlements, through a film made and starred by the children themselves, and published on the movement’s YouTube channel. Our methodology is based on screen ethnography, and draws theoretically from the fields of the Sociology of Childhood (Corsaro, 2011; Sarmento, 2005, 2011) and Cultural Studies (Hall 2016; Grossberg, 2009; Wortmann, Costa e Silveira, 2015).Our analysis uncovers recurrent references to childhood “in the here and now”; many scenes reveal an urgency expressed not only in bodies that hasten from place to place, but also in children’s need to seize every opportunity they find. The picture that unfolds is of a time of living urgently, of surrendering to the moment, taking advantage of the ephemeral opportunities that emerge at any and every instant. Our findings lead us to conclude that this short film is not only a cultural product made by children; it is a place for meaning-making, and for the symbolic manifestation of children’s experiences, desires and concerns.