Voices of quilombo children from Nazaré and literature for children: knowledge, identities, and reflections

Abstract

This study aims to highlight the voices of children belonging to the Quilombola community of Nazaré, located in Itapipoca, Ceará, regarding their perceptions, feelings, and observations about children's literature with ethnic-racial themes. The research adopts an ethnographic approach, understanding that this allows the researcher to observe, listen, and distance themselves from their own cultural references, positioning themselves sensitively in the face of new realities and behaviors. Based on the narratives of ten children, aged between seven and ten years old, it becomes evident that literature constitutes a space for social, emancipatory, and assertive reflection, enabling the recognition and appreciation of the identities, subjectivities, and experiences specific to the Quilombola universe. The study thus reinforces the importance of literature that contributes to the affirmation of the cultural and symbolic worlds of Black childhoods.