Keeping head above water: social presence in the transitions of Brazilian women to motherhood Carolina F. Pombo de Barros Carolina F. Pombo de Comparing experiences in Brazil, France, Portugal and Sweden Carolina F. Pombo de Barros Tese apresentada à Universidade de Évora para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Dinâmicas da Saúde e da Proteção Social: uma abordagem das Ciências Sociais ORIENTADORES: Profa. Dra. Felismina Mendes Prof. Dr. Marc Bessin ÉVORA, MAIO DE 2017 presence in ofthepresence Brazilian in transitions women to motherhood Comparing experiences in Brazil, France, Portugal and Sweden Contactos: Universidade de Évora Instituto de Investigação e Formação Avançada - IIFA socialKeepingabove water: head Palácio do Vimioso | Largo Marquês de Marialva, Apart. 94 7002-554 Évora | Portugal Tel: (+351) 266 706 581 Fax: (+351) 266 744 677 INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGAÇÃO E FORMAÇÃO AVANÇADA email:
[email protected] I dedicate this thesis to the memory of Odete Fernandes de Souza, my adoptive grandmother who I did not have the opportunity to meet but who keeps feeding my myth of origin. iv ―And that, you see, is my dilemma this afternoon. Both reason and seven decades of life- experience tell me that reason is neither the being of the universe nor the being of God. On the contrary, reason looks to me suspiciously like the being of human thought; worse than that, like the being of one tendency in human thought. Reason is the being of a certain spectrum of human thinking. And if this is so, if that is what I believe, then why should I bow to reason this afternoon and content myself with embroidering on the discourse of the old philosophers?‖ (Elizabeth Costello‘s quote in J.M.