Educação-vaga-lume: reinventar a Educação Popular, resistir à oprimissão e imaginar uma educação antiprisional

Abstract

Is it possible to make anti-prison education happen in prison? It is from this apparent paradox that I ventured into a scientific investigation anchored in Participatory and Narrative Research, delving into the life narratives of four survivors of the prison system and my own educational experiences in prison contexts. Together, the interlocutors of this research and I seek to understand the possibilities and limits for promoting education in (and beyond) prison that does not reinforce the existence of the prison system. Through conversation as a research methodology, the notion of oppression (oppremission) emerged making us understand that prison procedures humiliate and impose a permanent condition of inferiority on the person who is imprisoned, which implies the obliteration of their humanity. From the junction of three combative movements – reinventing Popular Education, resisting oppression and imagining an anti-prison education – we developed the notion of firefly-education as a strategy to nourish the humanity of people whose lives are subjected to obliteration in prison. Five horizons for promoting firefly education are presented: (1) establishing community and loving relationships, based on sharing, caring and encouraging expression, listening and conversation; (2) emphasizing existence as a condition common to all living beings on the planet, as well as the interdependence between them; (3) problematizing our multiple identities, favoring the development of sensitivities and belonging, and recognizing the historical trajectory of marginalization to which most of the prison population is subjected; (4) articulating meetings and sharing experiences, in order to foster the appropriation of the time-space of life, through the connection between past, present and future; and (5) stimulating the (re)creation and invention of oneself, to expand the possibilities of being. Finally, joy is proposed as a possible measure of attention for the permanent (self) evaluation of educators in prison contexts, so that they know if they are in fact combatting the prison system and nurturing bioluminescence.