Youth and art: unveiling the meaning of
human rights and social
policies for youngsters in the Brazilian
reality through the theatre
FSS/PUCRS
GEPEDH – Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisas
em Ética e Direitos Humanos
Beatriz G. Aguinsky
Stockholm, 2012
How to consider the theme of "youth“
Complex theme. Currently, the National Youth Council (Conjuve) defines
youth as any individual who is aged between 15 and 29 years.
It is a social construction, meaning the production of a given society
originated from multiple ways of perceiving the youngsters, which are
combine, among other factors, stereotypes, historical moments, multiple
references, as well as different and diverse situations regarding class,
gender and ethnicity (Esteves; Abramovay, 2009).
(In) visibility of youth: a perverse visibility?
There are particular implications of the amplified inequities of the
broader context in the condition of life of the youths (Invisible in the
field of rights and public policy, mainly those affirmative of rights)
They tend to be associated with the dangerous classes and recognized
by a set of security policies and control (Visible under the repressive
mechanisms)
Research
- Research of qualitative and participant nature, developed
with a group of 10 young people with ages between 15 and
29 years. The participants were residents of one of the most
vulnerable locations of the city who participate in meetings
that discussed themes as youth, human rights and public
policy, using the theater as a methodological strategy to
mobilize the discussion. In data collection were used, in
addition, participant observation and semi-structured
interviews regarding the development of the theater
experience with the youngsters. As a way of systematizing
the contents worked, it was built a play by the young
participants, which could connect the debates in the
Study
- Documentary analysis of public policies for youth in the city
of Porto Alegre.
Theater
 Weekly meetings with youngsters in schools and in public spaces.
 Theatrical techniques and reflections on issues brought by the
participants regarding Human Rights and Public Policy for Youth.
Contributing to give voice to youth, subverting the contexts in which
silence prevails, representing a political path for youth to be aware of who
has rights as well as a way to draw attention of society and government to
discuss the human rights guarantees youth (Boal, 2009)
RESULTS
Rights denied / violated tend to be internalized as isolated problems
afflicting young people, apart from a more general context in which they
live and survive deprived of goods and distribution of wealth.
Vulnerabilities?
Refer to issues of reproduction of material life, but also the weakening of
emotional bonds and lack of social belonging due to age discrimination,
ethnic or sexual orientation, relating to social experiences with violence
and prejudice.
“(..)I like to dress like a boy and it draws people's attention. For the girls
who dresses normaly it is easier cause no one keeps looking. I live
listening to jokes saying that 'men are missing in the market', calling me
'machorra' and it hurts me a lot. (Young participant, 19 years)
They express social issues affecting them like absence
of universal social policies.
- When you are ill, you have to wait hours in line to get a
chance to receive attention ... If you do not have health
insurance your are treated like an animal ... (A27)
HUMAN RIGHTS AND THEATER
"These Human Rights thing I didn’t understood, in the
school teachers do not talk about it ... Before I
thought that human rights was something just for
criminals. I didn’t know it was for everyone ... "(C16).
"There's to much blah blah blah, I think we learn things
by doing, it makes more sense. [...] I have never been
connected to this issue Human Rights, but now I'm
feeling pretty cool about it. (T27). "
SOCIAL POLICIES
"Public Policy is one such thing that we have the right
... A health clinic, school ... But a lot of them does not
work right ... But is something for us. We also paid
for it .. There is a social obligation to provide
something good "(J4-27 years)
Social Policies:
•
•
Only 17 Programs and services targeted to youth
06 only for those till 18 years
Assistência Social
Saúde
Educação
Cultura
Trabalho e renda
12%
18%
N = 17
47%
12%
11%
The study points to social experiences that make up the naturalization
of human rights violations and the invisibility of youth in public policy.
It is observed that the theater carries a strong methodological potential
to enable spaces of effective participation of young people in discussing
their concerns, experiences and questioning their daily lives, an
opportunity to recognize themselves as protagonists of their process
development and subject of rights.
REFERENCES
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