A intersecção entre as categorias raça, classe e gênero no contexto do acolhimento institucional

Abstract

This work stems from the results obtained through research conducted during a master's program in Sociology, blending aspects that are currently being investigated in a doctoral program. The context of institutional care traces back to different periods in Brazilian history. Along the way, it is common for many terms to have been used in varied ways, reflecting the reality of a specific time and place. Institutionalization practices, as they became known in the 18th century, began during the colonial period. These practices, gaining prominence during a time when distinctions of race and class were becoming more pronounced, also highlighted gender as a significant factor in understanding the modes of institutionalization, as it was referred to at the time. In this context, the present work aims to reflect on how the categories of race, class, and gender intersect in the historical aspect of institutional care, bringing this analysis to the present day and examining the impact these practices and distinctions have on contemporary society. The categories presented here as fundamental from an analytical perspective remain interwoven in the current moment. First, the condition of race stands out as a factor that led many children and adolescents to become targets of social cleansing processes, particularly during the enforcement of the minor codes (1927 and 1979), not to mention the colonial period when the phenomenon of institutional care emerged. The condition of class intersects through various factors, one of which still prevails: the socioeconomic vulnerability of many families. This vulnerability led legal authorities and the State to conceive that the future of these children and adolescents posed a risk to social order, and therefore, the solution was to maintain control over them. The aspect of gender is introduced in how girls, within boarding schools, were "prepared" for marriage, an institution that prioritized this outcome for young women. These conditions persist, albeit in a new guise, and the empirical field evidenced this through factors explored in greater depth throughout this work.