O trabalho docente de mulheres na região do Lago do Zé Açú em Parintins/Am

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the teaching work of women educators active in the Bom Socorro Community, located in the Lago do Zé Açú region, in Parintins, Amazonas, examining how the categories of gender and social class intersect and shape their professional trajectories in the Lower Amazon. The research problem is guided by the following question: how do gender and class operate in the constitution of these teachers’ experiences and working conditions? Accordingly, the main objective is to analyze the working conditions and the meanings attributed to teaching by these women, identifying the challenges they face and the strategies they develop in their daily professional practice. To this end, the study is grounded in Oral History as a methodology for source construction, based on interviews conducted with teachers from Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, and Secondary Education. The theoretical framework brings together contributions from Heleieth Saffioti, Joan Scott, Michelle Perrot, bell hooks, and Rachel Soihet regarding gender as an analytical and relational category, as well as from Alessandro Portelli, Verena Alberti, Michel Pollak, and Marieta de Moraes Ferreira in the field of Oral History. The analyses reveal that teaching, for these women, constitutes a space for identity construction and social insertion, while also exposing structural challenges related to the sexual division of labor, multiple work shifts, and the specific conditions of rural schooling. By reconstructing these teachers’ memories, the study contributes to expanding the debate on gender, labor, and territory in the history of education in the Lower Amazon, giving visibility to the experiences of women teachers situated in rural contexts that are often marginalized in historiographical production.