“A juventude brasileira” em foco: sujeitos e representações na revista Vida Juvenil (1949-1959)

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to look at the constitutive aspects associated with youth in Brazil in the mid-20th century. To this end, the object and source used was the magazine Vida Juvenil, which circulated nationwide from 1949 to 1959. The magazine was published by Sociedade Gráfica Vida Doméstica, based in Rio de Janeiro, the Federal District at the time, and responsible for other periodicals: Vida Doméstica (1920-1962); Vida Infantil (1947-1960); and Coletânea (1951-1960). Vida Juvenil consisted of a powerful observatory of young people envisioned by its editorial staff, so as to present hybrid content made up of entertainment, educational/moralizing, instructional/school and advice and preparation for the world of work sections. In this way, based on the content published in the magazine, we were able to understand which young people were targeted and which were neglected. We looked at ways of being young in its period of circulation, with special emphasis on the 1940s and 1950s, a period of intense political, economic and social changes, including the very constitution of the youth ideology - the fruit of modernity and consolidated in Brazil in the 1950s. The trajectories of the intellectuals who collaborated with the paper were analyzed, understanding them as centripetal forces in the construction and maintenance of the discourses and values proclaimed in the periodical. We also looked at the representations conveyed in the pages of the magazine, with an emphasis on the analytical categories study, work and modulation of character. The thesis is in the field of the History of Education and youth studies and the methodology consisted of consulting sources and documentary collections. The privileged source of the research was accessed through the Brazilian Digital Library of the National Library Foundation, which holds almost all the issues of Vida Juvenil, as well as the other periodicals researched. The theoretical framework was anchored in studies from Cultural History, with special emphasis on the discussions of Roger Chartier (2011), on the one hand. On the other hand, emphasis was placed on the work of Bloch (2001), Burke (1997), Certeau (1982) and Le Goff (2003) in relation to the practice of the historian after the turn in History, especially with the emergence of the Annales School Movement in 1929. Studies from Sociology and Social History were also emphasized, especially Groppo (2000, 2007, 2016), Chalhoub (2012), as well as authors whose emphasis was working with periodicals, such as Martins (2001) and Luca (2008).