Student residences as educational spaces: memories of Aparício Cora de Almeida University Student House (1963-1981)

Abstract: The study investigates memories of a Student House, located in Porto Alegre, understanding this place as an educational institution. By means of Oral History, interviews with former residents were produced; these interviewees, in their itineraries, aimed for university education and lived deeply the experience of sharing a common space: a student residence. This investigation sought to reach symbolic dimensions that would enable the interpretation of meanings atributed to this experience of shared living, specifically analyzing three aspects: self management; the social space related to the House; and the status of these self narratives. It concludes that Student Houses are living organisms, as well as producers and disseminators of cultures, situating its residents in a social space, and thus going beyond the limits of a transitory experience.

Keywords:
student residence; history of educational institutions; history of education; oral history