Entre os ditos e os não ditos: manifestações do discurso da sustentabilidade em uma Instituição Federal de Ensino Superior no nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the sustainability discourse manifested by a public institution dedicated to higher education located in the northeastern region of Brazil, the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), during the time interval between the years 2009 and 2020. Framed as qualitative exploratory research and case study, it uses Sociological Discourse Analysis (SDA) as a methodology for observing the data collected: it seeks to expose contexts, ideologies and silences that are camouflaged in the midst of organizational discourse but contribute to shaping it. It uses as a data source the documentation produced by the institution during the defined period, in particular its Institutional Development Plans and Management Reports, as well as the media content produced and broadcast by its television channel and magazine. The research also draws on conversations held with employees linked to organizational management and observations recorded through photographs. The data collected were asked questions such as: Who speaks? What position do it speak of? What do it talk about? what is at stake? How is speech organized? Such questions led to the discovery of discursive positions, narrative configurations and semantic spaces that revealed the discourse of an institution focused on its social function and which uses teaching, research and extension activities to be active in contact with society, but which places its internal challenges in the background. It appears that, despite understanding the importance of sustainability, internal actions to transform UFPB into a living laboratory for research and experimentation in this sense are slowed down due to deficiencies in internal communication, the lack of autonomous bodies to manage the issue and prioritization of actions aimed at combating historical socioeconomic problems. At the end of the study, suggestions are made to speed up the process of converting UFPB into a sustainable university, as well as recommendations for future researchers who intend to use SDA in organizational studies.