Revista Brasileira de Educação do Campo
The Brazilian Scientific Journal of Rural Education
THEMATIC DOSSIER / ARTIGO/ARTICLE/ARTÍCULO
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20873/uft.2525-4863.2018v3n4p1316
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1316
Este conteúdo utiliza a Licença Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Open Access. This content is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-type BY
Reading and writing practices of peasant women:
reflections from some appropriation stories
Sônia Maria Alves de Oliveira Reis
1
, Carmem Lúcia Eiterer
2
1
Universidade do Estado da Bahia - UNEB. Departamento de Educação. Avenida Universitária Vanessa Cardoso e Cardoso de
Lira, S/N. Ipanema. Guanambi - BA. Brasil.
2
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG.
Author for correspondence: sonia_uneb@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT. This text aims to present practices of reading and
writing of peasant women with little schooling. The study is part
of the research on the ways of participating in cultural practices
related to reading and writing through different instances of
socialization. It arose from the assumption that there is no
written culture yet, but rather a diversity of writing cultures that
vary according to the context of use and learning that are not
exclusively dependent on written language based on the
alphabetic system. The research methodology followed an
orientation of the qualitative research presuppositions. We used
oral history, a field diary made up of the literacy events
observed in the CEBs and interviews, in order to identify forms
of access and appropriation of written materials. In addition, the
meanings, roles, and conceptions that CEB leaders attribute to
reading and writing are presented, specifically from some
appropriation histories. Through the procedures adopted in the
analysis of the data it was possible to interpret that the different
forms of participation in the writing cultures of these women are
based on the mediation between the oral and the written.
Keywords: Peasant Women, Writing Cultures, Literacy, CEBs,
Citizen Participation.
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1317
Práticas de leitura e escrita de mulheres camponesas:
reflexões a partir de algumas histórias de apropriação
RESUMO. Este texto objetiva apresentar práticas de leitura e
escrita de mulheres camponesas com pouca escolarização. O
estudo insere-se no quadro de pesquisas sobre os modos de
participação nas práticas culturais relacionadas à leitura e à
escrita por meio de distintas instâncias de socialização. Ele
surgiu do pressuposto de que não existe uma cultura escrita já
dada, mas sim uma diversidade de culturas do escrito que
variam em função do contexto de uso e aprendizagem e não são
exclusivamente dependentes da língua escrita baseada no
sistema alfabético. A metodologia de investigação seguiu uma
orientação dos pressupostos qualitativos de pesquisa. Utilizou-se
história oral, diário de campo constituído a partir dos eventos de
letramento observados nas CEBs e entrevistas, com a finalidade
de identificar formas de acesso e apropriação de materiais
escritos. Além disso, apresentam-se os significados, os papéis e
as concepções que as líderes das CEBs atribuem à leitura e à
escrita, especificamente a partir de algumas histórias de
apropriação. Por intermédio dos procedimentos adotados na
análise dos dados, foi possível interpretar que as diferentes
formas de participação nas culturas do escrito dessas mulheres
se pautam na mediação entre o oral e o escrito.
Palavras-chave: Mulheres Camponesas, Culturas do Escrito,
Letramento, CEBs, Participação Cidadã.
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1318
Prácticas de lectura y escrita de mujeres campesinas:
reflexiones a partir de algunas historias de apropiación
RESUMEN. Este texto objetiva presentar prácticas de lectura y
escritura de mujeres campesinas con poca escolarización. El
estudio se inserta en el marco de investigaciones acerca de los
modos de participación en las prácticas culturales relacionadas a
la lectura ya la escritura por medio de distintas instancias de
socialización. El surgió del supuesto de que no existe una
cultura escrita ya dada, sino una diversidad de culturas del
escrito que varían en función del contexto de uso y aprendizaje
que no son exclusivamente dependientes de la lengua escrita
basada en el sistema alfabético. La metodología de investigación
siguió una orientación de los presupuestos cualitativos de
investigación. Se utilizó historia oral, diario de campo
constituido a partir de los eventos de letramento observados en
las CEBs y entrevistas, con la finalidad de identificar formas de
acceso y apropiación de materiales escritos. Además, se
presentan los significados, los papeles y las concepciones que
las líderes de las CEBs atribuyen a la lectura ya la escritura,
específicamente a partir de algunas historias de apropiación. Por
intermedio de los procedimientos adoptados en el análisis de los
datos fue posible interpretar que las diferentes formas de
participación en las culturas del escrito de esas mujeres se basan
en la mediación entre lo oral y lo escrito.
Palabras clave: Mujeres Campesinas, Culturas del Escrito,
Letramento, CEBs, Participación Ciudadana.
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1319
Introduction
The desire to know the life
trajectories of peasant women and their
pathways of formation and performance is
anchored in my own life history, since I
grew up following the daily routine of
women leaders of CEBs who worked in the
rural area of the municipality of Candiba,
Bahia, 825 km from the capital of Bahia.
With them, I had my first contacts with
printed materials. The leadership exercise
was involved in domestic chores and in the
roles of mother, wife, daughter and rural
worker. This context, when I was still
young, taught me not only to value
community work, but also to think about
the different roles assumed daily by the
leaderships that work in the rural area. The
reminiscences of the cultural practices of
reading lived in the nights of full moon or
the meetings around the bonfire and the
"counting" of stories in the collective
wheels realized in the house of flour still
today remain alive in me. Many were the
stories about werewolf and mule without
head, the biblical stories and the causes,
like those of Pedro Malasarte, that I heard.
As for the world of writing, the
presence of books or other printed
materials, in my childhood, school
newspapers or religious printed materials
such as newspapers, newsletters and
booklets, posters and leaflets of the
Fraternity Campaigns, books of songs and
catechisms. The practices of reading and
writing were motivated by conversations
and mediated by orality in the space of the
family, school and church. These
memories intertwine, dialogue among
themselves and compose my reader
universe, which welcomed and involved
the study presented here. From now on, the
first person in the plural is used to present
a work done in many hands and in many
voices.
The reflections of this text are a cut
of a doctoral research regarding how
women leaders of the Ecclesial Base
Communities (CEBs) of the Diocese of
Caetité/BA, who rarely or never attended
school, build their ways of participating in
the cultures of writing. We emphasize that
we do not only intend to describe the ways
of participation of peasant women in the
cultures of the writing, but to understand
how the little school education, the peasant
origin, the gender issue, the religious
belonging and the reading of printed
religious materials that circulate in the
CEBs are part of the construction of these
subjects as readers and writers.
In this context, the research asks: to
what extent do the reading modes and
strategies carried out at leaderships,
families or community halls influence the
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1320
appropriation of reading and writing? What
is the meaning of reading the printed
matter for women with no or little
schooling who act as leaders in the rural
CEBs of the Diocese of Caetité/BA? As a
group of individuals, belonging to the rural
environment, participate in situations that
require reading and/or writing? Which
instances favor the expansion of reading
and writing skills in rural contexts? These
questions arose from the reading of
research on the ways in which individuals
participated in the cultures of writing,
which were little discussed in the
publications consulted, and from the
observations made in the Movement of
Peasant Women of the Diocese of Caetité.
When analyzing the profiles of six
peasant women, we find that the trajectory
they have traversed has been long until the
conquest of the public and religious space.
Daughters of small farmers were born and
lived in the countryside; in there, they
learned the readings of the field from an
early age. Their childhoods were marked
by the popular religiosity, the difficulties
of survival and the difficult access to the
school. Low schooling levels Margaret and
Dalia (third grade), Acacia, Jasmine and
Iris (fourth grade), and Hydrangea (sixth
grade), are not just a matter of late arrival
at school. We noticed that the distribution
of access to written culture for these
women, in addition to being regulated by
schooling, was limited by factors related to
social scope, ethnicity/race and gender.
The research was carried out in six
Base Ecclesial Communities, located in the
Parish of Our Lady of Sorrows, located in
the municipality of Candiba/BA and linked
to the Diocese of Caetité/BA. Data
collection was done through the use of oral
history, a field diary made up of the
literacy events observed in the CEBs and
interviews, in order to identify forms of
access and appropriation of written
materials - which, why, how and when
these women read and write. The
documentary analysis made it possible to
contextualize and characterize the
institutions involved in this research
process, situating them in the past and
present.
The research methodology followed
an orientation of qualitative research
assumptions (Flick, 2004). The
understanding of the data was based on the
assumptions of the qualitative approach,
which has these characteristics: interaction
between the researcher and the object
investigated, emphasis on the process,
permission for modification of collection
techniques, re-reading of questions,
localization of new subjects, review of the
entire methodology during the course of
the work, concern to portray the
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1321
participants' personal views, fieldwork,
description and induction. This perspective
is thus aimed at the discovery of new
concepts, new relations, new forms of
understanding of reality (Green et al.,
2005).
In the text that follows, we present
studies, researches and reports of
experiences that discuss a way of being a
woman, of participating in the cultures of
writing and religious and social practices.
In addition, we describe some stories of the
appropriation of reading and writing
practices experienced by peasant women,
highlighting how their insertion in the
world of writing has occurred through
different moments of interaction with the
written object.
Women, writing cultures and citizen
participation
This study is part of the research on
the ways of participating in cultural
practices related to reading and writing
through different instances of socialization.
We start with the assumption that
there is no written culture yet, but rather a
diversity of writing cultures, which vary
according to the context of use and
learning. Incidentally for Marinho (2010,
p. 75), "written culture involves practices
of writing that are not exclusively
dependent on written language based on
the alphabetic system”.
In the perspective proposed by
Galvão (2010, p. 218-220), it is
controversial and complex to conceptualize
written culture, since the term implies
thinking about some consequences, such as
the fact that this culture is not
homogeneous. The author affirms that it is
important to think about writing cultures,
since, in this way, it is possible to
understand and embrace the diversity of
practices and uses that involve everyday
practice, as well as to perceive the uses of
writing cultures present in a community,
without, however, prioritize one practice
over others. Thus, it is not a matter of
conceiving the world of writing, literate
practices, only as an acquisition of the
ability to write; the concept must extend to
"every event or practice that mediates the
written word". (Galvão, 2010, p. 219). The
researcher considers written culture as a
"place - symbolic and material - that
writing occupies in/for a particular social
group, community or society". (Galvão,
2010, p. 218). She understands that there is
no written culture given a priori, but that it
is possible to think of a diversity of written
cultures that alternate depending on the
needs and functions of the context of use
and learning.
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1322
The master's research of the first
author of this article, carried out in the
Post-Graduation Program of the Faculty of
Education of the Federal University of
Minas Gerais (FaE/UFMG), from 2007 to
2009, evidences, through educational
practices and tensions (EJA), the system of
values, habits and attitudes that permeates
the experiences of men and women who
seek schooling, translating the role and
place of each one in that space (Reis,
2009). Some women, for example,
complain about the different conditions
under which school-poor people have to
resume their interrupted schooling. Others
describe the ways of thinking and living,
analyzing the rhythms, the permanencies
or the changes in their personal and
institutional trajectories, as this account
illustrates:
Just because I went to school, my
husband separated from me. I told
him: "When I was a kid, my father
would not let me study, now another
man [husband] will not stop." It was
more important for my husband and
father to learn to use my hands than
my head. Because I was not only
using my hands, that is, washing,
ironing, cooking, etc., my husband
thought it was bad and he left me
with two children. (Magdalena, 32
years old). (Reis, 2009, p. 175).
The situation reported in this
testimony is also present in the surveys
carried out in the EJA field. Women refer
to the postponement of the dream of
education because of the practices of
family care and life support that are
sometimes imposed on them (Bastos,
2011; Fonseca 2005; Nogueira, 2003).
Our hypothesis is that, despite all the
constraints and constraints of a patriarchal
society, there are creative and alternative
practices embraced by many women,
whether working with their husbands or
assuming the responsibilities of family and
children alone. In addition, in order to be
able to stay in school during the literacy
process, they develop tactics to cope with
the reactions of their peers, who threaten
them with expulsion, beatings,
embarrassment and attempted
demoralization (Reis, 2009). Many women
seek schooling concerned with obtaining
autonomy to carry out daily activities that
require reading, aiming to end the
constraints and dependence of another
person and break with the relationship of
domination-exploitation-submission. Thus,
they build the possible rupture.
In the Ecclesial Grassroots
Communities, the Peasant Women's
Movement (MMC) and the Catholic
Initiative Education Movement (MEBIC),
women face confrontations and tactics that
alter the state of non-submission. As
Certeau (1999) says, they change their way
of doing things by appropriating spaces in
another way, for example by participating
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1323
in social movements, the Church and the
residents' association. According to Galvão
and Di Pierro (2007, p. 16), "especially
those who have achieved a position of
community leadership and the possibility
of public speaking, preserve self-esteem,
refuse tutelage and reaffirm their capacity
for discernment." Remarkable, in this
sense, is the comment of this woman:
Be someone I already am! I am
already someone ... but I want to be
someone who knows how to speak
correctly, because if we do not know
how to read, speak and write without
errors, in today's world we suffer ...
especially the people who are leaders
of community, as I am, and have to
go to the public offices to solve
problems of the residents, have to
deal with documents such as minutes,
regiments, projects, presence list,
have to give many signatures, etc., ...
we have to have the word easy,
especially when the leader and
animator of the community is black,
poor and woman, etc. You have to
have the wisdom to turn! (Priscila, 40
years old). (Reis, 2009, p. 162).
As Priscila explained, her work in
the religious field and in the residents'
association showed her the importance of
seeking, in adulthood, new ways of
structuring oral and written discourse. Her
purpose was to qualify her citizen
participation, to integrate in different
activities, to play roles and to interact with
diverse technologies and cultural
instruments.
She recognizes that "knowing how to
speak right", "knowing how to read, speak
and write without mistakes", "dealing with
documents", "having the word easy",
makes a difference in reading, writing and
speaking in a social context of increasing
marginalization of groups that do not know
or can not read and write, given the
centrality of schooling and the necessary
mastery of written language in increasingly
"grafocentric" societies. However, when
she says that "she has to have the wisdom
to turn around," she says that schooling is
not the only way to gain access to
legitimate cultural heritage. This implies
thinking that "going through school does
not guarantee typical school development,
just as not going through it does not
prevent it from happening". (Oliveira
2009, p. 238).
Regardless of the years of schooling,
Priscila believes that leaderships - when
they master the use of reading, writing and
oral skills - possess the skills and attitudes
necessary for active and competent citizen
participation in situations where reading
and / or writing practices have an essential
function. In addition, they maintain with
others and with the world that surrounds
them forms of interaction, attitudes and
discursive competences that give them a
determined and differentiated state or
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1324
condition of knowledge in a literate
society.
The reports of Priscilla and other
women interviewed during the masters'
research - mostly black, from rural
communities, leaders of CEBs and
associations, and rarely or never attended
school - have given rise to some reflections
that, in turn, have contributed to thinking
about the perception of leaders, about the
ways they learn to read, about the ways
they actually read. In addition, we seek to
identify the values they attribute to the act
of reading, to observe that attitudes are
constructed in their experiences as Bible
readers and religious printed materials
within and outside the community. It is
worth mentioning that, as women with
little or no schooling, relate with autonomy
and curiosity with the uses and practices of
reading and writing.
The study by Paz Albuquerque
(2007) on the trajectory of participation
and female emancipation of poor women
in the Diocese of Goiás reveals that the
livingness and experiences of women
working in CEBs are singular and little
explored. The author points out that the
religious transformations of Liberation
Theology were attended by women. He
acknowledges that such participation
objectively favored the creation of a
pedagogical process that contributed to
subjective and objective changes in the
lives of poor women, transformations
related to autonomy and valorization.
Giving a voice to these subjects, the study
identifies a woman's look and history about
the Diocese of Goiás and Liberation
Theology, recognizing the vision of the
participants in this movement. Even
showing the difficulties encountered by
poor women in age-old sexist institutions
such as the family and the Catholic
Church, the results of the research also
reveal the achievements they have made.
According to Galvão (2010, p. 231),
studies on the churches are almost absent
as instances of spreading the writing.
Religious practices, however, as some
works have already shown a fundamental
role in the approximation between
individuals and written culture. Souza
(2007, 2009) shows, for example, that in
the small rural community that has studied,
located in the North of Minas Gerais, the
only instances of circulation of the writing,
besides the school, are the religious
practices of the Catholic Church. Silva and
Galvão (2007), in turn, expose how the
insertion in Pentecostal religious practices
of the Assembly of God contributed to
bring their leaders closer to the written
culture. Galvão (2010, p. 239) states:
"These studies indicate the need to know
the practices of subjects that are decisive in
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1325
the processes of production and diffusion
of writing and the processes of
approximation of the written culture of
ordinary individuals”.
Studies developed by the Santa
Barbara group of researchers at the
University of California, "conceive of
literacy as a social phenomenon that is
situationally defined and redefined through
the interaction of different social groups
including reading groups, families,
classrooms, schools, communities and
social groups". (Castanheira et al., 2001, p.
354). As a process, the phenomena of
literacy can only be perceived in the
actions of the subjects, in the orientations
of their attitudes, in the expectations of the
individuals and, lastly, in the way in which
they interact, interpret and construct the
texts.
The changes in the sociocultural
practices of individuals have led to
discussion about what it means to be
literate. With respect to this debate, Street
(1984) had already defended for 30 years
that literacy is more than the ability to
decode to understand senses expressed on
a page, on a computer screen or even in a
situated social practice. Barton and
Hamilton (1998) consider that literacy
allows the individual to grasp a set of skills
and knowledge and effectively participate
in all the events of the community to which
they belong and the traditions, habits and
customs with which they are identifies.
The survey on "Literacy and Literacy
of Young People and Adults" by Viovio
and Kleiman (2013) in the first decade of
the millennium also points out that there
are many studies and research on "literacy
and literacy" and "literacy and schooling"
related to literacy outside of school or
linked to specific groups, local and local
practices. The authors show that "the
literacy practices that subjects share and
the always result in the expansion of
modes of action and insertion in
grafocentric societies” (Vóvio & Kleiman,
2013, p. 193).
In view of the complexity inherent to
the senses and the ways in which youth
and adult literacy programs have been
implemented in Brazil, this research aims
to understand how subjects traditionally
associated with orality construct,
throughout their life trajectories, ways of
participating in cultures of writing.
Therefore, by centralizing the focus of this
study on non-school educational processes,
we generate subsidies to better understand
the role of popular religious bodies (in this
case, Catholic women) in the formation of
women and their processes of
approximation with reading and writing.
According to Souza (2007), studies
that are currently concerned with the
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1326
description of the use of writing, the forms
of participation of subjects, families and
social groups in the written culture, and the
implications of this participation have tried
to understand, for example, what people do
with writing. In this direction, research
carried out in Brazil by Galvão (2001,
2004) evidences particular forms of
participation of individuals in the world of
writing. The author draws attention to
pathways of subjects singular, whose
contact and experience with writing occur
outside the schooling process, such as
"collective and aloud reading experiences
of cordel leaflets" and the readings of
"movies subtitles" (Galvão, 2004, p. 147).
According to Abreu (2002), if, on the
one hand, we already know well how are
the ways of reading, access to written
materials, the reasons for reading and the
spaces given to the reading of prestigious
cultural groups - if we are already aware
the history of canonical books, and the way
in which learning and the dissemination of
school reading occurs - on the other hand,
the ways of contacting books and written
materials were not satisfactorily
researched. Moreover, little is known about
the objects and practices of reading in
circulation among discredited groups, such
as peasant populations. Thus, it seems
important to us to understand how little
school education, peasant origin, gender
and religious affiliation contribute to the
modes of participation in the writing
cultures of CEBs peasant women leaders.
Reading and writing practices of
peasant women
The practices of reading and writing
developed in the CEBs, in the union, in the
Pastoral da Criança, in the association, in
the Movement of Peasant Women, in their
residences with their children and in so
many other spaces, cover the innumerable
experiences of peasant women. These
experiences are not only related to the
school space, because their activities of
reading and writing are considered
considering the different social demands.
Acácia and Íris, for example,
experience, in the Pastoral da Criança,
diversified practices of literacy regularly
implemented. These relate to the uses of
reading and writing with the following
objectives: to communicate; organize and
require the execution of actions; and to
assign meanings to the activities they carry
out during the home visit, the care of
children under 6 years of age, the
celebration of life, the accompaniment of
families and the community, the reflection
meeting and the evaluation of the activities
carried out.
Other experiences of reading and
writing performed by Acácia refer to the
follow-up of pregnant women in the
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1327
Pastoral da Criança through the instrument
"Loops of love". Each month, the pregnant
women receive a card with the main
information about the development of the
baby, changes in the woman's body and the
incentives for them to prenatal. They are
messages that improve the self-esteem of
the expectant mother and have her follow
up, month by month, the development of
her child and keep in mind the care she
should take with her gestation.
It is worth remembering that the
activities of Pastoral da Criança are
strongly marked by orality, reading and
writing, as well as being represented in an
intense way by a learning that is learned
and acquired with the other, in specific
cultural contexts that require participation,
activity and action. We quote the following
a practice recorded in the field diary, held
at the São José Community Center:
Today is "Celebration of Life" day.
On this day, families and leaders
come together to evaluate the
development of their children,
exchange experiences and celebrate
the results achieved. The community
organized the celebration in the
community hall, outdoors, under the
trees. The leaders weigh the children
and share a snack in a party mood.
While the children are heavy, the
weight is recorded in the child's
notebook, for family control, and in
the Leader's Notebook, and later sent
to the National Child Pastoral
Coordination. The meeting is
enriched by playing with children.
Spirituality is present through
mysticism. (Field Diary, Aug. 26,
2012).
All the activities carried out by
Acácia and Iris and by other leaders are, at
the end of each home visit, writen and
recorded in reports that are then addressed
to the parish staff of the Pastoral da
Criança and later to feed the data of the
National Coordination Pastoral da Criança
and to prove the services provided. In the
case of literacy events, the construction of
these reports, a result of the activities
carried out, constitutes a practice located,
inherent in the social scope of the work of
this association. The implementation of
this type of practice is established as a
literacy event that, in the view of Barton
and Hamilton (1998), takes on a formal
character because it is implemented
through procedures adopted by a social
assistance agency, in this case, the Pastoral
Teams of child.
In the community of Jasmine, we
observe the realization of a biblical circle
coordinated by her. The theme of the
meeting was "The problem of divisions
within the Community". Initially, Jasmine
made an introduction saying that in the
first letter to the Corinthians, what most
concerns Paul is the divisions within the
community. According to her, this unease
runs through the whole letter, but receives
special attention in the four initial chapters.
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1328
Contextualizing the reading, she said that
"the same problem occurs today in many of
our communities." She emphasized that
there are tensions and divisions that hinder
the lives of many well-meaning people.
However for her, what draws attention in
Paul's letter is the affection and, at the
same time, the firmness in the way of
teaching that uses to discuss the problem of
the divisions in search of a solution. She
emphasized that "Paul's way can help us in
finding a solution to the problems we face
today in our communities”.
After the introduction of the meeting,
participants were asked to locate the
passage "1Cor 1,1-16" in the Bible. The
reading was made aloud by one of the
people present; Meanwhile, the others
followed the narration silently. Then,
Jasmine proposed to the participants a
reflection on reading from the method See,
Judge and Act. Assuming To see, he asked,
"Look closely, what was happening there
in the community of Corinth?" There were
several comments based on the text.
Jasmine then teased the group by asking,
"Does something like this happen in our
communities today?" After the speeches,
Jasmine divided the group into pairs and
proposed the exchange of ideas from these
questions: "1. These problems of division
occur in our community and / or our
families? 2. Why is it that so many
divisions are born, when all seem to want
the common good? 3. What are we doing
to create more unity? "
After the sharing of the pairs, the
second moment of the biblical circle,
known as the Judge, began, which, for
Jasmine, is the occasion to illuminate the
situation of the community from the
biblical text. In this way, she again
proposed the slow and attentive reading of
1 Cor 1: 1-16. She asked that, as they read,
they would keep this question in their
heads and hearts: "What are Paul's
suggestions for overcoming the differences
in our communities and in our families?"
There was a moment of silence, and later
Jasmim suggested that the participants
exchange ideas in groups to discover the
light of the biblical text for the present
from the inquiries: "1. What more caught
your attention in Paul's words? 2. What
are Paul's suggestions for overcoming
disagreements? 3. What light do we find to
illuminate the problems of our community?
"
As soon as the participants finished
speaking, Jasmine made the following
reflection:
Reading and meditating on Paul's
letters to me is to seek ways to
evangelize and live today with
courage and wisdom ... Many people
left the countryside and lived in the
city, attracted by the propaganda and
dreams of a better life. On the farm,
life is not easy, work in agriculture is
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1329
heavy, but I think life here is not
worse than in the city ... The faith
here is transmitted within the family,
there is solidarity between us, and the
children accompany the parents in
life and in religion ... For those who
leave the countryside and go to the
city full of hope, life in the city
becomes a nightmare. Everything is
very rushed. There is no time to talk
and socialize. In the city, those who
do not have work do not have money.
No money in a city dies of starvation.
On the other hand, with money you
get everything the city offers in terms
of consumption. The city produces a
change in people's minds. Children
adapt more quickly than their parents
to city life and no longer accept their
way of living and acting. They no
longer follow their parents' religious
behavior. They abandon their faith
and seek new ways of living their
religion. And in a city what is not
lacking are religious proposals and
Churches. In fact, the city is a large
religious market, where people
choose the religion that appeals to
them most ... (Summary of the
Jasmine speech notes).
In the third moment of the biblical
circle, called Acting and Celebrating,
Jasmim asked the group to systematize a
phrase or word of what had been reflected
in the meeting. Finally, the participants
formulated spontaneous prayers with the
intention of thanking God for life, for the
learning of that day and for the
commitments made. Some of them wrote
the prayers in little papers, some read
aloud, while others put them in a small
box. Everyone prayed a psalm in the Bible
and closed the meeting with the Lord's
Prayer and the final song.
By focusing on literacy in the
religious space, we conceive it as a
phenomenon not only situated, but also as
a multiple, since its effectiveness is
motivated by the innumerable uses of
reading and writing established in response
to the demands of communication that
occur in a religious practice of literacy. We
note that this practice, in rural contexts, is
present in the communities with the modes
of participation that the Church proposes
and with the Christian orientation. This is
given by the representative of the Church,
as a participant of the liturgy team, and
especially by the priest, both take the voice
of this institution, supported in the written
"sacred" text.
Sunday worship, the most frequent
religious event in the Catholic Church and
in the community, consists of reading the
booklet "The Sunday", produced by the
publisher Paulus, who traditionally
publishes Catholic texts. This four-page
booklet contains liturgical readings for
each Sunday, reflection proposal, songs of
the liturgical hymnal of the CNBB and
article with the theme of the day or the
ecclesial event.
We observe the celebration of
Sunday worship in the community of
Hydrangea. At the time, according to her,
there were five liturgy teams, and she
participated in one of these. The booklet is
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1330
read by members of the liturgy team, who
take on the roles of readers, commentators
and leaders, according to their
organization. The assembly participates in
the worship according to the indication
made in the leaflet itself, just as it does at
the time of the songs. Literacy practices, in
this context, are convened by a ritual,
which requires specific modes of
participation and regular practices around
the written text.
Another religious event of which
Hortensia participates is catechesis. This
happens weekly, and it is attended by
children, adolescents, young people and
adults. The people of the community itself
volunteer to serve catechesis. According to
Hydrangea, in general, there are more
women than male catechists. They are
prepared in some meetings in the parish
and each one works with a separate group
by age group. A predetermined book is
adopted by the parish, which guides the
work. In the following, we describe a
meeting held with 33 persons, aged
between 14 and 20 years, on November 10,
2012.
Initially Hortensia proposed a
moment of spontaneous prayer and, shortly
thereafter, presented orally the theme of
the fifth meeting: "God Calls Abraham". In
the first moment, called "Looking the life,
"she put on a poster the image of Brazil
illustrating the latifundia (Figure 1) and
asked the believers:" What is the dramatic
reality that the drawing shows?
Figure 1 - Latifundia in Brazil.
Source: Adapted from Bucciol (2004, p. 17).
She then presented another poster
organized as follows by the catechist:
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1331
Figure 2 - Way to divide the lands in Brazil. Figure 2 - Way to divide the lands in Brazil.
LANDS IN BRAZIL ARE MORE OR LESS DIVIDED LIKE THIS
A man distributes 100 hectares of land among 100 farmers: He gave:
45 hectares
1 farmer
34 hectares
9 farmers
18 hectares
37 farmers
3 hectares
54 farmers
Reflection: what do you think of this way of dividing the land?
Source: Adapted from Catechist material.
After this, the catechist Hydrangea
invited the believers to sing and pay
attention to the words of the song "There is
not, O people, O no / Moonlight like this of
the Sertao". When they finished singing,
asked the group: "Between the bad
distribution of land and income, social
injustices, poverty, etc., and migration, is
there a connection? Why?". There was
significant participation of young people,
who inferences, through prior knowledge,
knowledge of the experience of migration
in the family and community, to interpret
the texts presented; asked for clarification
on unknown issues and noted the
information presented.
In the second moment of the
meeting, titled "Searching the Bible," a
written text with the story of Abraham was
shared and read in a shared way. After
reading this, Hydrangea introduced the
third part of the meeting, called "Coming
back to life", inviting the believers to talk
in groups for 15 minutes, from the
following questions:
1. What can the story of Abraham
teach us? 2. Would God want to give every
husbandman a land like Abraham? 3. So
why are there so many landless farmers? 4.
What are the difficulties of life that most
discourage us? 5. Do we sometimes try to
solve the difficulties by forgetting God? 6.
Has our faith ever experienced any ordeal?
And did faith grow stronger or weaker?
(Diary of Field, November 10, 2012).
The socialization of the conversation
in the plenary was participatory. Using the
book Sings People of God (Bucciol, 2007),
they sang the song "The Lord called me to
work". Finally, the catechist presented and
discussed the week's commitments.
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1332
Figure 3 - Commitments of the Crisming.
Source: Adapted from Bucciol (2004, p. 19).
In the light of the above, we
understand that literacy events promoted
by the Catholic Church can be defined as
literacy practices, since they are regular in
the community and contribute to the
construction of cultural patterns of reading
and writing (Barton, 1994). Cult and
catechesis, besides being a practice of
regular literacy, contribute to the for the
maintenance of a local religious identity.
Hydrangea reported that in his community,
"people participate in worship on
weekends and also in catechesis, because
there they feel a group, a knot”.
Another observed reading practice
occurred in the encounter of the crisesand
which was carried out by Margarida on the
11th of November 2012, in the community
of Dourado, as portrayed in the following
excerpt from the field diary:
Initially, Margarida made a moment
of relaxation with the group of
believers. She then summoned the
Holy Spirit of God and asked for his
help. Margarida explained that she
follows the steps learned from the
nuns. At first, each of the believers
took the Bible and read the Bible text
calmly; read, re-read, read again,
until he knew what was written, until
they assimilated the text itself. Then
they closed the Bible and made a
moment of inner silence,
remembering what they had read.
The young people shared orally their
impressions of the text by repeating
words, phrases, verses ... Margarida
said: "Now it is no longer just what
the text says, but what this Word is
saying to each of us within reality in
which we are living. What has God
said in the past and what is he talking
about today through this text? What
does the text say? [asked the young
people to take the text to their own
life and to the personal and social
reality] What is God speaking to me?
" She told the believers that the
reading and meditation of the Word
become an intimate and personal
encounter with God. Going on, she
asked the believers: "What the
biblical text and the reality of today
motivate us to pray." At that moment,
she proposed personal prayer, the
spontaneous expression of our
deepest convictions and feelings.
And she asked, "What does the text
make me say to God? [Pray -
supplicate, praise, dialogue with God,
pray ...] ". After that moment,
Margarida suggested contemplation,
which, for her, is not something that
goes through the head, but it is a new
act that involves our whole being.
Closed the moment of prayerful
reading of the Bible with the
questions: "from this text how should
I look at life, people, reality ... What
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1333
should I do with concrete? What has
remained in my heart and awakens
me to a new way of being and
acting? " She asked the witnesses to
register in the notebook and, finally,
suggested that they choose a phrase
to memorize. (Field Diary, 11 Nov.
2012).
Margarida reported that with the
priests, nuns, and walking companions, she
learned how to read prayerfully from the
Bible, a practice she performs individually
and collectively, especially in times of
retreat and worship. It is pertinent to
emphasize the importance that the uncle,
the nuns and the priests had in the life story
of Margarida, instigating it, mainly,
through the example to deepen in the
practice of the reading. The following
excerpt illustrates well our statements: "I
do not forget my uncle Abilio, who learned
to read by himself and who taught the
children and many nephews and other
people in the community. He was a wise
man." According to Margarida's speech,
we understand that the relation between the
taught and acquired practices of reading
and writing does not take place in a linear
way, but rather occurs in function of the
religious context in which they appear.
For Acacia, one of the originalities of
CEBs is to articulate Bible reading and
celebrations with popular struggles and
movements of improvement of the
conditions of life and work of the people,
mainly, in the field and in the periphery.
According to the interviewee, the current
challenges of the Church invite us to
rediscover the taste of sharing life with
others in the dynamics of otherness,
making the Christian community the space
to strengthen friendship, sharing and
fraternal communion. Let us look at the
speech of Acacia:
Praying is not only praying when
getting up, when going to sleep, it
goes much further: it is to transmit
the life to other people in the day to
day. To talk with the companion to
share the lunchbox with those who
do not have lunch, that is to pray ... I
pray when I am in the Church and
when I am denouncing the injustices
and the low salary, because there I do
not pray only for me, but I pray for
others. .. Meeting of the Biblical
Circle is prayer, when we achieve a
victory, it is prayer ... Love and
praise to God should not be
expressed only in worship, but in
everyday life ... In my opinion, of
there is no use praying if we do not
help each other, so I see the need to
participate in associations, union and
politically. If, on the one hand, this is
the most difficult, the most delicate
and the riskiest part, which can
generate more divisions and
conflicts, on the other hand, is the
most important, because of the
collective good that through it we can
get.
Referring to Chartier (2001), we
understand that these "reading figures"
refer to their own styles that reveal the
relationships between the reader and the
object read. We can contrast these forms of
reading, in which the quantities of reading
access and the various forms of
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1334
appropriation determine their specificities
and their results. Chartier defines this style
of reading, which occurs repeatedly,
memorized, recognized, as an "intensive
reading" practice. For the author, there is
an attentive and different relationship
between the reader and what he reads,
"incorporating in his innermost being the
letter of what he has read". (2001, p. 86-
89). Intensive reading is therefore
understood as "a way of reading that
ensures efficacy to the text, thanks to a
work of slow, attentive and repeated
appropriation" (2001, p. 89).
It is common in CEBs, unions, the
Peasant Women's Movement, associations
and other spaces observed during the
research, an emphasis on other modes of
communicative practices, such as visual,
sound, tactile expressions among others,
that join the written word or spoken. It is
the event of multimodality, which shows,
through different modes of discursive
representation, new possibilities for the
different orders of communication.
In this way, literacy practices take
shape, they materialize in the various
literacy events that the women leaders of
CEBs participate in every day. The texts
multimodal, among them those portrayed
in Figures 4 and 5, presented at the
commemoration of the 25 years of the
Pastoral Care of the Child in the Diocese
of Caetité/BA provided interaction
between the participants and their
interpretative processes.
Figure 4 - Photo of the 25th Anniversary of the
Pastoral of the Child in the Diocese of Caetité / BA.
Figure 5 - Photo of the 25th Anniversary of the
Pastoral Care of the Child in the Diocese of Caetité /
BA.
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1335
Source: Research Archive (2/06/2012).
Source: Research Archive (2/06/2012).
Figures 4 and 5 expose a literacy
event in which the written text does not
appear alone, autonomously, as language,
is related to symbols and images that
contribute to the attribution of meanings.
In the act of constructing a given text - be
it written, oral and/or imagery - the author
can make use of a vast amount of
multimodal linguistic resources coming
from both the verbal and visual planes. All
these different ways of constructing a text
bring about substantial changes in the way
people elaborate meaning and meaning,
thus transcending the primacy given to the
word. Multimodality thus fosters the
emergence of diversified sense-building
resources.
In this context, multimodality refers
to the most distinct forms of representation
used in construction linguistics of a given
message, such as: words, images, colors,
formats, typographic marks / strokes,
spelling, gestures, intonation patterns,
looks, etc. According to Rojo (2012), it is
not only the sum of languages, but also the
interaction between different languages in
the same text.
Multimodality therefore
encompasses writing, speech, and image. It
is worth mentioning that in all community
halls where women interviewed perform
and/or participate in meetings and
celebrations there is a notice board in
which community programming and the
reporting of incoming and outgoing tithing
resources and other offers are exposed. We
also observe the exhibition of posters and
clothes, in which are exposed some
activities produced by children,
adolescents and young people of
catechesis, which we interpret as a way of
valuing their work.
The women interviewed in this
research deal with increasingly multimodal
texts, which require them to write and read
strategies that are in accordance with the
multiplicity of languages that make up the
text. Jasmim explained that the use of films
in community encounters awakens or even
leads the "reader" to the reality lived by
hose people portrayed in them, cited as
example the film Ring of Tucum (Berning,
1994). Rojo and Moura (2012) affirm that
the development of communication
technologies, with their specific social
practices of reading and writing, requires
that the formative instances focus on this
reality and depart from it to teach.
In the period of production of
empirical material for this research, we
observed several literacy events in which
women used films to discuss some subjects
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1336
in the meetings. According to Jasmim, this
practice, besides evoking feelings and
sensations in the participants, makes
possible to know a certain experience,
giving the impression of integration to this
experience.
On August 19, 2012, for example,
we accompany, in the community of
Jasmine, the screening of the film The
Ring of Tucum (Berning, 1994), which
portrays the daily life of men and women
who make Ecclesial Base Communities
and popular movements a reality. The
feature film takes place in 1992, the same
year that the eighth Inter-Church Meeting
of Basic Communities took place in Santa
Maria / RS, we inferred this from the scene
in which the main character André appears
on a payphone and, in the background, the
posters of the meeting are displayed.
The film can be divided into two
moments, which blend together during the
exhibition. The first is a fictional narrative
with characters and scripts created. The
second is composed of documentary parts;
the members of these groups belonged to
the popular movements and to the
Ecclesial Base Communities, were
religious leaders and they gained a voice
(Diary of Field, 19 Aug. 2012).
Before the performance, Jasmine
made a brief contextualization, aiming to
motivate the group. After this presentation,
there was a moment of debate on the
following issues:
according to the film, who is behind
the mobilization of the people in the
pastoral commitment of the journey
of liberation that marked the Church
of Brazil in Latin America? Should
the Church care about the spiritual
side or the material needs of the
people? The political thinking and
acting that the film poses is a
challenge not only of the historical
moment in which it was recorded, but
also of the present day. Should the
Church, the priests and the faithful
refuse to participate in the political
debate? Should they only deal with
the evils that afflict the soul? (Field
Journal, Aug. 19, 2012).
In the community hall where the film
was shown, several fragments of the
characters' speeches and testimony
clippings were displayed on posters of the
speeches of Dom Luciano and Dom Pedro
Casaldáliga. One of the participants, for
example, when reflecting on poetry and
resuming the discussions motivated by the
material Ring of Tucum, said: "The Gospel
prioritizes the right of the poor and
capitalism fails, the Gospel proposes
solidarity and capitalism competitiveness. .
". He concluded by stating that the Gospel
is a radical anti-capitalist text and practice
and that, if Jesus lived today, he would be
characterized as "left-wing" because in his
day he was against political and religious
power (Diary of Field, August 19).
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1337
In this context, Jasmine spoke of his
desire to see a true revolution in the
Catholic Church, beginning with the
implementation of the decisions of the
Second Vatican Council, which took place
more than 50 years ago and have not yet
been implemented. These involve, for
example, greater democratization of the
Church; in this way, God's people would
be protagonists and not sheep to be
sheared. In addition, Jasmine hopes to end
compulsory celibacy, to allow the
priesthood of women, and to reintegrate
into the priestly ministry of married priests
who wish to return and a thorough review
of the sexual morality of the Church (Diary
of Field, Aug. 19, 2012).
Jasmim recalled that when Liberation
Theology and CEBs were valued most by
the Church in Brazil, the temples were full.
After they began to be discriminated
against and repressed, giving place to the
spiritualism of "hallelujah, hallelujah", the
temples began to empty. Then he asked,
"Who is to blame? Who is emptying the
Church? Liberation Theology, or this
spiritualist church that faces God and turns
its back on the poor? "(Field Diary, Aug.
19, 2012).
Jasmine said she constantly looks at
the moon, the stars, the crucifix, and said:
I know that God knows me and
knows who I am, that is enough ...
We see God with the inner eyes ...
God is like the air we breathe, we do
not see God, but feel him; and
without the air we can not live, nor
can we live without God. I think
every time we feel excited to get up
in the morning and have to start the
day, to be able to reach out to the
other ... God is there, because God is
not an object, God is a supreme
passion, supreme energy ... It is very
good to have a God inside, who loves
us and walks with us. (Jasmine, age
53).
Jasmine also lamented the increase in
the power of pressure and influence of
evangelicals in the political arena. She
fears that some of these, not all, "are
shocking the serpent's egg." Since they can
not impose, through their preaching, their
morals and customs upon the whole
population; then, they seek political power,
because by law they can make any
universal decision (Field Diary, Aug. 19,
2012).
In this direction, another participant
of the group expressed his desire to see a
profound political reform happen in Brazil:
"we must stop being objects of electoral
campaigns every two years, and become
protagonists." He acknowledged the
importance of personal rights granted by
the government, such as the ease of credit
and access to the motorcycle and car, but
regretted the lack of social rights, which
basically consist of security, food, housing,
health and education (Diary of Field, Aug.
19, 2012).
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1338
Acácia and Íris, in the meetings of
the Pastoral da Criança, use the radio
materials they receive: Viva a Vida
program; interviews; spots, vignettes and
jingles; CD with songs from Pastoral da
Criança; and the presentation of the
Pastoral da Criança. The radio program
Viva a Vida is a weekly radio show, which
has a 15-minute duration and features
topics on health, nutrition, education,
rights, community organization, and other
issues of interest to its public (Diary of
Field, Mar 3, 2012).
In view of the above, we understand
literacy practices as activities that should
be thought of in a broad way. We consider
that the uses of technologies allow
apparently oral activities to be marked by
representations proper to writing. Listening
to a news item on a radio show, for
example, as Kleiman (2008) discusses, is a
literacy event, since the text heard has the
typical marks of the written modality.
In order to analyze how the members
of the studied communities use the writing,
we had to identify and characterize the
diverse situational contexts in which these
individuals make use of the writing. In the
religious context, we note the uses that
CEB members make of writing within the
environment of their community. Kleiman
(2008) explains that, from the moment that
the studies stop taking the effects of
writing practices as a universal and begin
to analyze these effects through social and
cultural practices of different groups, there
is a broadening of the concept of literacy.
Conclusions
The results of the survey revealed
that women found in social movements,
Catholic Church CEBs, political parties
and trade unions, sense, motives and even
conditions to face gender discrimination,
the inequalities of power existing in the
family and in the public space of social
movements and the Church. The
experience of participation of the CEB
leaders in these formative spaces presents
them as possible literacy agencies.
In this context, the Ecclesial Base
Communities emerge as spaces of strong
bonds of solidarity and formation of
critical awareness of the poor. In these
spaces, people begin to express their
opinions and anxieties from day to day. As
the chorus of a well-known singing of
CEBs says: "Suddenly our sight cleared,
cleared, cleared. We have discovered that
the poor have value, have value, have
value” (Diary of Field, April 29, 2012).
Community is the place of self-esteem; in
it people feel valued and encouraged to
face their personal problems collectively.
As Durkheim (2002) says, the individual
gains his strength and his life in the
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1339
collective, his form of religiosity is
strongly centered on the collective aspects.
Women participate in new spheres of
activities and interact with different uses of
reading and writing. We note that CEBs
play an important role in promoting access
to, circulation and use of a variety of text-
based activities. The discourses and values
constituted locally about the demands of
reading and writing experienced by them
and the meanings they attribute to their
practices generated in them a gradual
process of "empowerment", supported by
literacy practices.
The women leaders of CEBs are
mobilizing agents of their knowledge and
their experiences, both reflect in their ways
of doing. They are promoters and
mediators of the everyday practices of
writing to carry out the activities. They
know the means, the limitations and the
possibilities, the weaknesses and the
strengths of each of the members of the
group and their local practices. They can,
in community living, identify people who
are not literate but understand the social
roles of writing and distinguish genres or
recognize the differences between written
and spoken language. They also live with
literate people who, even if they master the
writing system, have little idea of their
possibilities of use.
These women realize that there is no
standard for all individuals at all times
because, as Barton and Hamilton (1998)
argue, are culturally constructed. From this
perspective, such practices can be
conceived as a changeable and dynamic
phenomenon, since they are inserted in
society and are capable of change.
Each person has different
experiences and purposes for reading and
writing. In the case of this research, we
observed different experiences of the
women of the CEBs and several demands
made on them. Thus, we note different
requests and goals in relation to reading
and writing, for adults and children, for
men and women, and for the social
institutions in which they participate.
By knowing the modes of
participation in the cultures of the writing
of peasant women leaders leaders of the
CEBs, we can describe the Base Ecclesial
Communities as a space of literacy event,
circulation of texts and practices of reading
and writing. On the other hand, the family
and religion, the Peasant Women's
Movement, the unions, the Grassroots
Movement and adult literacy institutions,
school and non-school literacy policies and
religious or commercial uses, typical of
literacy in circulation. The school is not the
only guardian of the transmission of
writing, although its school form of dealing
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1340
with writing can reach other social spaces,
showing that the relations between spaces
and subjects are multiple. Participation in
literacy events and practices is much more
linked to our social and cultural
experiences than to our own knowledge of
schooling programs are considered as
training institutions; and the school and the
Church as instances of diffusion of texts
and practices of reading and writing.
We conclude, therefore, that the
modes of participation in the cultures of
writing are diverse and can be determined
by the institutions, school and non-school
literacy policies and religious or
commercial uses, typical of literacy in
circulation. The school is not the only
guardian of the transmission of writing,
although its school form of dealing with
writing can reach other social spaces,
showing that the relations between spaces
and subjects are multiple. Participation in
literacy events and practices is much more
linked to our social and cultural
experiences than to our own knowledge of
schooling.
References
Abreu, M. (Org.). (2002). Leitura, história
e história da leitura. Campinas: Mercado
de Letras.
Barton, D., & Hamilton, M. (1998). Local
literacies: reading and writing in one
community. London: Routledge.
Bastos, L. C. (2011). Traçando metas,
vencendo desafios: experiências escolares
de mulheres egressas da EJA (Dissertação
de Mestrado). Universidade Federal de
Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte.
Berning, C. (Diretor). (1994). Anel de
tucum. Chácara Santo Antonio: Verbo
Filme.
Betto, F. (1981). O que é Comunidade
Eclesial de Base. São Paulo: Abril
Cultural, Brasiliense.
Bucciol, A. (2004) Queremos ver Jesus e
ser suas testemunhas. Livramento de
Nossa Senhora: Diocese de Livramento de
Nossa Senhora.
Bucciol, A. (2007). Canta Povo de Deus.
Livramento de Nossa Senhora: Diocese de
Livramento de Nossa Senhora.
Castanheira, M. C., Crawford, T., Dixon,
C. N., & Green, J. (2001). Interactional
ethnography: an approach to studying the
social construction of literacy practices.
Linguistics and Education, 11(4), 353-400.
Certeau, M. (1999). A invenção do
cotidiano 1: artes de fazer. Petrópolis:
Vozes.
Chartier, R. (2001). Do livro à leitura. In
R. Chartier (Org.). Práticas da Leitura (pp.
77-106). São Paulo: Estação Liberdade.
Durkheim, E. (2002). As regras do método
sociológico. São Paulo: Martin Claret.
Feitosa, D. A. (2005). Cuidado e
sustentação da vida: a interface da
educação popular no cotidiano de
mulheres recicladoras (Tese de
Doutorado). Universidade Federal do Rio
Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre.
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1341
Flick, U. (2004). Uma introdução à
pesquisa qualitativa. Porto Alegre:
Bookman.
Fonseca, M. C. F. R. (2005). Educação
matemática de jovens e adultos:
especificidades, desafios e contribuições.
Belo Horizonte: Autêntica.
Galvão, A. M. O. (2001). Cordel: leitores
e ouvintes. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica.
Galvão, A. M. O. (2004). Leitura: algo que
se transmite entre gerações? In V. Ribeiro
(Org.). Letramento no Brasil: reflexões a
partir do INAF 2001 (pp. 125-153).
Campinas: Global.
Galvão, A. M. O. (2010). História das
culturas do escrito: tendência e
possibilidades de pesquisa. In Marinho,
M., & Carvalho, G. T. (Orgs.). Cultura
escrita e letramento (pp. 218-278). Belo
Horizonte: Ed. UFMG.
Galvão, A. M. O., & Di Pierro, M. C.
(2007). Preconceito contra o analfabeto.
São Paulo: Cortez Editora.
Green, J., Dixon, C., & Zaharlick, A.
(2005). A etnografia como uma lógica de
investigação. Educação em Revista, 42,
13-79.
Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia E
Estatística. (2011). Censo Demográfico
2010. Recuperado de:
http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/po
pulacao/censo2010/caracteristicas_da_pop
ulacao/resultados_do_universo.pdf
Kleiman, A. B. (2008). Modelos de
letramento e as práticas de alfabetização na
escola. In Kleiman, A. B. (Org.). Os
significados do letramento: uma nova
perspectiva sobre a prática social (pp. 15-
61). Campinas: Mercado de Letras.
Marinho, M. (2010). Letramento: A
criação de um neologismo e a construção
de um conceito. In Marinho, M., &
Carvalho, G. T (Orgs.). Cultura escrita e
letramento (pp. 68-100). Belo Horizonte:
Editora UFMG.
Nogueira, V. L. (2003). Educação de
Jovens e Adultos e gênero: um diálogo
imprescindível à elaboração de políticas
educacionais destinadas às mulheres das
camadas populares. In Soares, L. (Org.).
Aprendendo com a diferença: estudos e
pesquisas em Educação de Jovens e
Adultos (pp. 65-90). Belo Horizonte:
Autêntica.
Oliveira, M. K. (2009). Cultura e
psicologia: questões sobre o
desenvolvimento do adulto. São Paulo:
Hucitec.
Paz Albuquerque, K. (2007). Mulheres
pobres na Diocese de Goiás – uma
trajetória de participação e emancipação
feminina (Dissertação de Mestrado).
Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás,
Goiânia.
Reis, S. M. A. O. (2009). A inserção dos
egressos da educação popular na escola
pública: tensão entre regulação e
emancipação (Dissertação de Mestrado).
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais,
Belo Horizonte.
Rojo, R. (2009). Letramentos múltiplos,
escola e inclusão social. São Paulo:
Parábola Editorial.
Rojo, R., & Moura, E. (2012).
Multiletramentos na escola. São Paulo:
Parábola.
Silva, S. B. A., & Galvão, A. M. O. (2007).
Práticas religiosas pentecostais e processos
de inserção na cultura escrita
(Pernambuco, 1950-1970). In Galvão, A.
M. O., Melo, J. F., Souza, M. J. F., &
Resende, P. C. (Orgs.). História da cultura
escrita: séculos XIX e XX (pp. 365-403).
Belo Horizonte: Autêntica.
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1342
Souza, M. J. F. (2007). Uma aprendizagem
sem folheto: quem ainda vai rezar e benzer
em Barra do Bengoso? In Galvão, A. M.
O., Melo, J. F., Souza, M. J. F., &
Resende, P. C. (Orgs.). História da cultura
escrita: séculos XIX e XX (pp. 405-435).
São Paulo: Autêntica.
Souza, M. J. F. (2009). Modos de
participação nas culturas do escrito em
uma comunidade rural no Norte de Minas
Gerais (Tese de Doutorado). Universidade
Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte.
Street, B. (1984). Literacy in theory and
practice. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Vóvio, C. L., & Kleiman, A. B. (2013).
Letramento e Alfabetização de Pessoas
Jovens e Adultas: um balanço da produção
científica. Cad. Cedes, 33(90), 177-196.
Recuperado de:
http://www.scielo.br/pdf/ccedes/v33n90/a0
2v33n90.pdf
Article Information
Received on May 31th, 2018
Accepted on June 26th, 2018
Published on December 23th, 2018
Author Contributions: The authors were responsible for
the designing, delineating, analyzing and interpreting the
data, production of the manuscript, critical revision of the
content and approval of the final version published.
Conflict of Interest: None reported.
Orcid
Sônia Maria Alves de Oliveira Reis
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0129-0719
Carmem Lúcia Eiterer
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6978-155X
How to cite this article
APA
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and
writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some
appropriation stories. Rev. Bras. Educ. Camp., 3(4), 1316-
1344. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20873/uft.2525-
4863.2018v3n4p1316
ABNT
REIS, S. M. A. O.; EITERER, C. L. Reading and writing
practices of peasant women: reflections from some
appropriation stories. Rev. Bras. Educ. Camp.,
Tocantinópolis, v. 3, n. 4, set./dez., p. 1316-1344, 2018.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20873/uft.2525-
4863.2018v3n4p1316
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1343
Reis, S. M. A. O., & Eiterer, C. L. (2018). Reading and writing practices of peasant women: reflections from some appropriation
stories…
Tocantinópolis
v. 3
n. 4
p. 1316-1344
sep./dec.
2018
ISSN: 2525-4863
1344