Refúgio, língua, identidade: uma pesquisa narrativa com adolescentes venezuelanos vivendo no Brasil

Abstract

In this research, I sought to understand narratively how two Venezuelan teenage refugees live and narrate their experiences learning Portuguese, focusing on who they are and who they are becoming while studying at public schools in Senador Canedo, Goiás. Saph, a 14-year-old boy, and Sonnie, a 17-year-old girl, migrated to Brazil from Venezuela in 2018, and they were the participants of this study that was carried out online. The Narrative Inquiry (CLANDININ, CONNELLY, 2000; 2015) methodological approach was adopted in this research, and the narrative analysis for the composition of meanings of the stories shared by the participants was based on the metaphorical three- dimensional space, considering the time, interactions and places in which their experiences happened. In order to co-create field texts alongside the participants, we used poems (autobiographical), diaries, field notes, messages we exchanged via Whatsapp, our video call conversations (all recorded), images and videos from the Internet, photos we took, and documents. Theoretically, I rely on Petrus, Santos and Aragão (2016), Lopez (2018; 2019; 2020) and Cursino (2020) to discuss the teaching of Portuguese as a Welcoming language; on Murphy (2014) to write about interrupted stories and liminality; on Candau (2016), Hall (2014) and Silva (2014) to discuss about the participants' construction of identity and difference, and about critical interculturality as a pedagogical perspective. I also rely on Delfim (2019) to conceptualize migrant and refugee, and on Bauman (1999; 2016) to problematize the socially constructed meanings around these terms through the media and xenophobic political discourses. Based on data from the Refúgio em Números report (2021), I outline an overview of this phenomenon in Brazil and draw attention to the gaps and (in)effectiveness of laws (BRASIL, 1997; 2017; 2019) that guarantee rights to those who seek refuge here. Through the narratives that Saph and Sonnie told throughout this research, they were able to reflect on their past, interpret their present and think about their future. I was also able to reflect on my personal and academic life, as well as critically reflect on my own teaching practice. Besides that, this research showed that it is urgent that more studies involving teenage refugee students are developed, so they have opportunities to share their experiences and, in consequence, help enrich debates in Applied Linguistics, elaborate public policies and pedagogical approaches to meet their needs.