Práticas religiosas no espaço educacional: um olhar sobre a experiência do IFPB – campus João Pessoa.

Abstract

This final doctoral paper draws on the religious group presence, within the vocational educational Brazilian context, and considers the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Paraíba – IFPB, Campus João Pessoa, as the space for an empirical microanalysis. Since the Brazilian colonization period Catholicism has taken over the position of dominant religion in the country, and throughout time it has been spreading its roots within several institutions, especially the educational ones, being IFPB an example as religious experience space. Thus, the main objective of this study is to analyze the changes that took place at IFPB, throughout the past fifty years, and which implied in the repositioning of the dominant position, formerly occupied by the Catholic religion, and currently substituted by the presence of other religious groups such as Christians of several different denominations in the school community. Nowadays, there are five active groups: the “Young Technicians” – JOTEC; Metanoia, two cell groups, one from Igreja Sara Nossa Terra – ISNT; and another from Igreja Luz para os povos; and one from the Aliança Bíblica Universitária – ABU, and they are equivalent in their objectives and features. This is qualitative research which seeks the genesis of the religious presence in the institutional space. This research emphasizes its relevance on the social actors’ testimonials and who were involved in the investigation, as well as their discourses and the meanings they allocated and transmit. That said, the following were interviewed: former and current civil servants; former and current students; leaders, goers and non-goers of the religious groups and representatives of the State Religious Movements. Three techniques were used to collect the data: observation, semi-structured interviews and documental research. The theoretical framework dialogues with the interactionist approach and is supported by authors like Erving Goffman and his sociability concept based on George Simmel and Zygmnunt Bauman, and the synthesis in action and structure by Pierre Bourdieu. Within this context, the rights to religious freedom, as well as the secularism principles used the Brazilian State are mistakenly experienced in the institution. On one hand, the rituals and religious groups, contrary to the secular nature of the Brazilian State, and on the other hand, under the mantle of oversight and laxness, the Institution makes use of the religious groups to exercise control of young students’ behavior.