Navegando no Imaginário do Oceano Samba: as rodas de samba como microcosmos sociais constituem-se como potencial formador humano?

Abstract

This thesis follows the research line Written Culture, Languages, and Learning, at the Postgraduate Program in Education, Federal University of Pelotas, fomented by Group of Studies and Research on Imaginary, Education, and Memory. The objective of this study was to investigate whether samba jam sessions as social microcosms might have within themselves a potential for human formation. The study explored samba sessions at the Mercado Central and at the first anniversary of the Boteco Copa Rio, both held in Pelotas/RS, to search for the senses and the forms of pregnance of that immersion experience that I have called Samba Ocean. In order to navigate this ocean, I used the following theoretical anchors from studies of the Imaginary: "symbolic animal" as per Ernst Cassirer; "semantic basin" as per Gilbert Durand, "resonance/repercussion" as per Gaston Bachelard and "complex thought" as per Edgar Morin. Data collection began with a trigger question: in one or two words what comes to mind when you think of samba? "Joy", "fellowship", "magic", "celebration of the soul" and "art of the people" were some of the words mentioned revealing six aquifers. In view of the findings, I elaborated eleven forms of pregnance for human formation: 1) the educator unleashes "disturbances"; 2) the educator must promote the "culture of interiority"; 3) the educator can propitiate "the cultivation of the soul" in the student; 4) "education is the ability to ask and not to answer"; 5) "that the bow and stern of our didactics are: to seek and find a method for teachers to teach less and students to learn more"; 6) "the truth is that no educational system in itself is preferable to another"; 7) "human formation spaces are not always the traditional ones; 8) "do not leave students considered by the education system as having no perspectives for the future as 'carcasses abandoned by the school tide'"; 9) "knowledge and affection, the more we share, the more we accumulate", 10) "no one can build their knowledge on a rock of certainty" and 11) "innovation is a collective sport; creativity, a collaborative effort". The experiences lived in the samba jam sessions make them a powerful stronghold of human formation. It is for this reason that some crew members consider samba to be "the most important part of our lives," "the best thing there is," and "a faithful refuge from daily life on the Brazilian fringe”. It is in it that we euphemize our existence and lead a "life with swing". These manifestations, often disliked by society, carry symbolic values that enrich the people who participate in them. These findings allow us to problematize other forms of formation and education beyond institutionalized spaces, showing that human formation in its broadest sense goes beyond the content developed in a classroom. The symbolic exchanges and the bonds reinforced between its frequenters showed that, among other spaces of human formation, samba jam sessions are one of them. In face of the convergences between theory and empirics, I defend the thesis that the samba jam sessions in this study are revealers of social microcosms and that in their core there lies a potential for human formation in those who frequent them.