Fragmented Becoming. A Deleuzian reading of Becoming-Child in Brazil Gefragmenteerde Wording. Een Deleuziaanse versie van Kind-Wording in Brazilië (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift Natasha Prévost Fragmented Becoming. A Deleuzian reading of Becoming-Child in Brazil Gefragmenteerde Wording. Een Deleuziaanse versie van Kind-Wording in Brazilië (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. W. H. Gispen ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 28 november 2006 des ochtends te 10.30 uur door Natasha Marie Elisabeth Prévost geboren op 24 Mei 1976 te Montréal, Canada Promotor: Prof. dr. R. Braidotti CONTENTS Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Part-I: Theories and Concepts: Children’s Status Prior to Minority Group Political Formation and Current Representation 1. Doing Research with Children: A Brazilian Ethnographical Case Study 5 I. The Research Inquiries 5 II. Fragmented Becoming: A Deleuzian reading of Becoming-Child in Brazil 6 1.2 Children place within the Western Patriarchal Philosophical History 7 of Communities of Discourse I. Patriarchal Western Founding Thoughts on Children 8 Gender and Education: The Impact of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 8. II. The Legacy of the Creation of Social Sciences 9 III. Controlling the Child: Repressing Individual Desires and Creativity 10 Freudian Psychoanalysis: The Child is the Voice of the Neurosis, 11. -Traditional Socialisation and Developmental Theoretical Models: A Process with a Beginning and an End, 12. -Modern Western Patriarchal Definition of a Child, 13. - 1.3 Cultural/Social Anthropology and Children 14 I. The Ethnographical Method 14 How to name the Other?, 14. -The place of Children in Anthropology, 15. – What is the Matter with Chronological Age?, 16. 1.4 The Emergence of Children as Minority Group 17 I. From Women’s Studies to Children’s Studies 18 Women’s and Children’s Civil Rights, 19. -The Second Wave Feminist Movement and its Positive Consequences in Theorising Childhood, 20. II. Children as a Minority Group? 21 Children Studies Theoretical Models, 21. -The Socially Constructed Child, 22. 1.5 The Interactive Grammar Method 24 What is the meaning of Children as a Minority Group in Brazil?, 24. I. The Question of Difference within the Interactive Grammar Method 25 Gender/Generation Interactive Differences, 27.-Race/Class Interactive Differences, 29. – Dis-Alienating Differences, 30. 1.6 Agency, Creativity and Subjectivity 31 I. Action! 31 Children’s Punctual Resistance and Struggle, 32. II. Becoming Creatively Schizo 33 Winnicott’s Creativity at the Threshold of Psychoanalysis, 34. - Archetypes’ Universality, 36. -Subjectivity Multiple Forms, 37. -Fragmented Becoming: Centre and Schools Director, Teachers and Research Colleagues, 40. 1.7 Deleuze Rhizomic Philosophical Encounters for the Foundation 42 of a Symmetrical Power Relation I. Intuition 43 II. Empiricism 46 III. Sympathy 47 IV. Affect 52 V. Experiment 54 VI. Arrow Thrower 59 VII. Nomadism 61 1.8 Poor Children or Children as a Minority Group in Brazil 64 I. Children in Brazil 65 Institutional Power: Discourse and Practice in Contemporary Brazil, 65. - II. Perspectives on Education through Brazilian History 66 Colonial Time: The role of the Jesuits, 66. -Education Forbidden for the Children of the Slaves, 67. -The Beginning of the Republic: Poverty and the Emergence of Institutions to Contain the Progeny of the Poor, 69. -Industrialisation: Education for future Employers or Employees, 69. -Military Governments and Dictatorship: Cleansing of the Streets or Re-educational and Correctional Institutions, 71. -Democracy: Half of the Minor Population in Situation of Irregularity, 73. -Capitalist Bureaucracy: the Poor Poorer, 75. -The Streets Forbidden for Poor Children, 76. III. The Problems with the Representation of Children in National Films 77 for International Audiences Pixote: The Law of the Weakest. Being a Poor Child without Responsible Caring Adults around means is Equivalent to a Death Sentence, 78. -Central do Brasil. When Being a Child and Agent means to be Macho, 80. -Omnibus 174. In 2000 in Brazil, Being a Poor Child without Responsible Caring Adults around means to be Sentenced to Death, 82. -City of God. Real Story, Pulp Fiction Style, 83. IV. Reflections on Children Representation in Brazilian Films 85 Facing Reality, 86. 1.9 Part-I Concluding Considerations 87 Part-II: Fragmented Becoming as an Ethnographical Method 90 Initium, 91. I. Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil 93 Pernambuco State’s Geographical location, 94. -Recife: Fieldwork Site, 95. Recife City, 96. -Worker’s Party (PT) in Brazil and in Recife, 98. II. Fieldwork Research Geographical Locations in the City of Recife 101 Várzea Neighbourhood, 101. - Campina do Barreto Neighbourhood, 102. -Comparative table of the statistics for the West-RPA 4 and the Várzea and the North-RPA 2 and Campino do Barreto, 103. -Fragmented Becoming: Centre and Schools Director, Teachers and Research Colleagues, 104. 2. Ethics 105 I. Self-Introduction in the Schools and NGO 112 Arco-Íris Private School, 113. -The Escola do Dom Municipal Public School, 113. -Daruê Malungo Centre NGO, 114. -The Magalhães Bastos Municipal Public School, 115. -The Formation of the Groups, 116. 2.2 Data-Collection Methods 117 I. Drawings Interpretation 122 2.3 Fragmented Becoming: My School 127 I. My School 127 Vitor (Magalhães Bastos), 129. -Letícia (Magalhães Bastos), 131. -Amadeu (Arco-Íris), 134. -Claúdio (Daruê Malungo), 136. -Acildo (Magalhães Bastos), 139. II. Recife: Schools Description 141 Escola Arco-Íris (private school) (AI) –Várzea neighbourhood, 142. -Physical Description of the Arco-Íris School, 142. -Pedagogical Proposal, 142. -Escola Magalhães Bastos (municipal public school) (MB) –Várzea neighbourhood, 144. -Physical Description of Magalhães Bastos School, 144. -Pedagogical Proposal of the Municipal Education Network of Recife, 144. -Daruê Malungo (Literacy and Cultural Centre) (DM) –Campina do Barreto neighbourhood, 146. -Physical Description of Daruê Malungo Centre, 146. - Pedagogical Proposal, 146. III.Schooling, Gender, Control(s) and Power 148 IV. Reflections on Children’s Schools 149 2.4 Fragmented Becoming: My Home 152 I. My Home 153 Marcelino (Daruê Malaungo), 153. -Walln (Magalhães Bastos), 155, -Pedro (Arco-Íris),158. -Willyane (Daruê Malungo), 160. II. The Emergence of the Favelas in Recife 162 Housing Construction in the Favela, 163. III. Reflections on Children’s Homes 166 IV. Micropolitical Initiatives 168 Grupo Rua e Praça, 168. -Instituto Vida, 169. 2.5 Fragmented Becoming: My Family 171 I. My Family 171 Bianca (Daruê Malungo), 171. -Dougla (Daruê Malungo), 174. -Maria-Eduarda –Duda (Arco-Íris), 176. -Camila (Arco-Íris), 178. -Tayna (Magalhães Bastos), 180. -Igor (Arco-Íris), 182. II. The Different Forms of Power Relation, over the Family –and over Children 184 III. Doing Families 187 IV. Gender Categories that Bind the Nuclear Family Logic Together 188 V. Doing Family Differently from the Dominant Nuclear Family Model 190 VI. Reflections on Children’s Family 194 What Family?, 194. VII. Micropolitical Initiatives 196 Sustainable Development and Biological Agriculture, 196. -Instituto Papai, 196. 2.6 Fragmented Becoming: My Best Friend 197 I. My Best Friend 198 Mateus (Magalhães Bastos), 198. -Bruna (Arco-Íris), 200. -Rodrigo (Magalhães Bastos), 202. -Ricardo (Daruê Malungo), 204. II. Reflections on Friendship 206 III. Friendship or Children and Philosophy 208 2.7 Part-II Concluding Reflections 210 Conclusion 213 Annex 216 Bibliography 230 Dutch Summary 251 INTRODUCTION The subject of this dissertation revolves around doing research with children and by extension human subject as well as children agency within patriarchal socio-institutional organisation. The place of children in social sciences research has been receiving a growing attention since the 1990s. Researchers from the fields of cultural/social anthropology and sociology created the field of Children’s Studies in order to mark a new turn in the approaches used in research with children. The founders of this new research tradition are Jenks (1982), Prout (1987; 1996), Qvortrup (1991; 1996), Alanen (1992; 1994; 1999), James (1993), Mayall (1994; 1996; 2000), Caputo (1995), and Christensen (1999). The common point of the different approaches used by these authors is couched in children’s agency. They trust in children capacity in reflecting about their own lives and in voicing their interests and desires. This ethical approach of the subject retained my interest because it can be paralleled with the changes in ethnographic fieldwork practices, particularly in considering the power relationship between researcher and research collaborators. In my view, in addressing children’s agency many underlying questions come to the fore. In the first place, the question of the status of children as a minority group: can we actually talk about minority group formation if decisions were taken on the behalf of the individuals forming the group? Secondly, the universality of children’s rights as a minority group: did it respect cultural diversities? In approaching children as agent an important step was made to create a space for autonomous expression and creativity. However, the dominant socio-institutions gravitating around children rarely consider children as agent. Thus, the complex interaction between socio-institutional powers,