“Porque a gente é crente!”: uma cosmovisão cristã em narrativas de crianças

Abstract

This research, situated within the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies, aims to understand the meanings constructed by children in a specific Christian context and to perceive how this particular religious cosmology produces children’s subjectivities. The rites of passage, the discourses surrounding children, and the dogmas that govern the conduct of members of this evangelical congregation give rise to a specific conception of childhood and serve as a backdrop for reflecting on the place of childhood within this context. The religious community – whose name will be withheld – projects a conception of childhood that is limited by dogmas, which assign a predetermined place for the child to be lived according to the doctrines. The comparison between Karl Mannheim and Walter Benjamin enabled a reflection on the category of childhood from a sociological and cultural perspective, which was then connected to religion in order to understand the dimensions in which the power relations between adults and children are embedded. The understanding of the Christian context is based on the view of religion as a social phenomenon, drawing on Durkheim’s concept and establishing a dialogue with Peter Berger. By framing childhood and religion as a binomial for study and investigation, the following questions emerge: What place does childhood occupy in the context studied? How are child subjects perceived through the rites, discourses, and dogmas? What spaces and times are designated for children in this community? What do children reveal about their experience of childhood within this religious institution? How do they perceive the relationships established between adults and children? The research drew upon childhood memories and conversations, both online and in person, with 10 children from the chosen religious context, aged 3 to 9 years old, including 3 boys and 7 girls. Striking differences, particularly related to gender and to adult–child power relations through the control of bodies and voices, were evident in the children’s statements. We understand that these issues highlight a certain aporia in thinking about the experience of childhood in contemporary society, as the religious institution conflicts with other social forms of engaging with childhood, a field marked by epistemological and political disputes.