Felicidade, ainda que tardia: lazer e sociabilidade no grupo de idosos “Mensageiros da paz"

Abstract

In this ethnographic research work I have as objective to describe the leisure and the forms of sociability of a group of elderly, residents of the city of Mamanguape-Pb. This is a project of the City Hall of Mamanguape called "Service of Coexistence and Strengthening of Elderly Bonds". The group is linked to the Municipal Social Welfare Secretariat and the Social Welfare Reference Center (CRAS). This group includes about 76 elderly men and women, who meet weekly, usually on Tuesdays, from 13:00 to 16:00 hours, at the Phoenix Cultural Center in Mamanguape, to practice physical activities with training. multifunctional, motivational lectures, and other leisure activities. The group is called “Messengers of Peace” and was created by the City Hall of Mamanguape-Pb, to serve low-income seniors of both genders. In order to ethnograph this group, I made use of participant observation, inserting myself into space and interacting directly with the group. To this end, I participated as an observer of the meetings and outings in which the elderly participated from April 2015 to December 2017. In this paper, I intended to understand the importance of this coexistence and social interaction for the participating individuals and what is relevant to them in this space. leisure and sociability.