Pedacinho do mundo: o lugar e as vivências dos jovens da Comunidade São Pio X - Km 20

Abstract

The thesis entitled "A Small Piece of the world: the place and experiences of young people in the community of São Pio x - km 20 " is the result of a research carried out in the Postgraduate Program in Geography at the State University of Western Paraná, Francisco Beltrão campus, from 2019 to 2024. The phenomenological approach was used and supported by studies in Humanistic Geography aiming to understand what young people from the São Pio X - Km 20 community in Francisco Beltrão (Paraná) perceive regarding the concept of place and how they present their life experiences. Therefore, the concept of place is key to the research and is analyzed from the perspective of Humanist Geography. The thesis focuses on demonstrating evidence for answering the research’s question: How young people from the community of São Pio X - Km 20 build their relations with the environment, what are the elements found in this perception, in the cultural and sport activities, on excursions and in the friendship bonds built with the people from the community. To this end, within the scope of Humanistic Geography, ethnography was adopted as the methodological strategy, alongside data collection methods using narrative interviews, field diaries, photographs and observations, and descriptions of the community studied. Forty-nine young people aged between 12 and 29 were interviewed and, based on the narratives and observations, this research presents the individual and collective experience from the interviewees' point of view and based on the researcher's description. In general, they refer to the place as "a quiet place", "peaceful", and "good to live in", but there is no unanimous agreement that they will remain in the community for a long time. In some cases, the tranquility and lack of leisure activities, in conjunction with the covid 19 pandemic and the absence of a school environment, have made it common for people to say that "there's not much to do here" or "everything is very quiet here". After studying the daily routine of the community, the experiences and narratives of the interviewees were highlighted in this thesis, along with the meaning attributed from the young to the place they live, presenting what they like to do, their life goals, and their dreams, giving us the perceptions about their need to leave their place of living or remain in it.