Senses and perceptions of migrant children in Florianópolis

Abstract

This study analyzes the senses and perceptions migrant children have about their migration processes. The study was conducted at a public pre-school in the municipal school system of Florianópolis and included participation of 13 migrant children and one native child from the city from four to seven years old. The data collection instruments were a questionnaire and interviews conducted with their families. Based on dialectical historic materialism, the categories totality and particularity of the migratory social phenomenon were used. The study sought in the historic-cultural perspective the bases for understanding the perceptions of the children. The children’s statements reveal how they learn about the totality of current social relations, making clear the social class that they belong to. Moreover, these statements also indicate how social contradictions determine the objectivity of social life and its subjectivities beginning at an early age.

Keywords:
Migrations during childhood; Migrant children; Working families