Profemãe: a mulher em formação na Escola Normal Rui Barbosa (1911-1948)

Abstract

This research aimed to critically examine the ways in which socially produced discourses, mobilized in the disciplines (Manual Work; Moral Education), were linked to the production/construction of subjectivities—here called Profemãe—at Rui Barbosa Normal School, in the city of Aracaju, Sergipe, from 1911 to 1948. The concept of subjectivities, as proposed by Michel Foucault, sought to address the modes and conditions through which the subject becomes a subject, as an effect of material and historical processes and practices. The term Profemãe was used to attempt to interweave the role of the teacher with her maternal character (inherited from the figure of the mother), as she developed the subjectivities here named Profemãe, which is the object of this research. To carry out this analysis, we outlined specific points: a) To challenge the discourses produced in these disciplines; b) To problematize the practices and discursive productions surrounding the programs of these disciplines; c) To question possible intersections that unfolded in the production/construction of the Profemãe. This study is qualitative in nature, using bibliographic and documentary research as the method of information gathering, with Rui Barbosa Normal School as the study universe, and the programs of the Manual Work and Moral Education disciplines as the sample, focusing on the period from 1911 to 1948. To contribute to the studies on Rui Barbosa Normal School, works produced by Anamaria Gonçalves Bueno de Freitas (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2010) were used, as well as those by Guacira Lopes Louro (1999, 2020) to consider the process of feminization of teaching, which served as references for this research. Alongside the analysis inspired by genealogy (Michel Foucault), the socially produced discourses embedded in the Moral Education and Manual Work disciplines were brought into consideration, contributing (in)directly to the production/construction of the Profemãe. In addition to the discourses, some readings carried out in the Moral Education discipline were also examined, highlighting the moralistic and religious character that produced its effects. To this end, Friedrich Nietzsche's *On the Genealogy of Morals* (2022) was utilized. “Where there is power, there is resistance” (Foucault, 2009). We also identified mechanisms for resisting the normative space (School) by creating new ways of freeing oneself and disengaging, thus elaborating other modes of subjectivation.