“Saudade da professorinha?”: velhice, autoridade e gênero nas trajetórias de professoras da educação básica

Abstract

This study is driven by an interest in the themes of gender and aging, aiming to create the groundwork for an anthropological investigation into the phenomenon of age and intergenerational relationships in contemporary society. The study of teaching—as a function, occupation, and/or profession inherently involved in cultural transmission and intergenerational dynamics, as well as the historical processes that assign feminine signifiers to it—becomes our focus as we establish connections between sociological dynamics and the trajectories of experienced female teachers. Thus, this work examines the memories and life stories of women who have dedicated significant portions of their lives to teaching careers, analyzing their narratives, discourses, and social representations through three conceptual lenses: the feminization of schooling, identificatory socialization, and the symbolic weakening of teachers’ authority. To achieve this, the study draws on diverse theoretical frameworks from the social sciences and the field of Education, structuring its analysis along key axes, such as: the social trajectory of teaching models and their associated behaviors, the relationships between age hierarchies, gender, and teacher authority, and the status of knowledge in postmodernity and its implications for the prestige of teaching. By situating the contexts, narratives, and experiences articulated through memories and representations of femininity, schooling, and new generations—in accordance with life histories—this work reflects on the role of aging and the socialization of new generations in a context of increasingly fluid age boundaries and a weakening sense of collective memory.