“Isso aqui tá um mangue!”: o pertencimento com o manguezal é arte na comunidade de Campinhos, Canavieiras-BA

Abstract

Nature is often seen as a stock to meet the needs of a society, in which the human being is apart from it. The uprooting of the human being occurred due to the ideal of “progress” and “development” from modernity, which still shapes the structure of today's society. As such, many people don't understand that we are intimately dependent on our interspecies relationships, and just another type of earthling living on this planet. In this context, Environmental Education (EE) can promote more than concepts: it is necessary to strengthen a bond of belonging to nature. Given that art develops sensitivity, it becomes plausible to use it in an EE pedagogical context, and there are studies that already propose a new area of knowledge: Art/Environmental Education (AEE). Recognizing belonging to nature is fundamental for responsible land management and the protection of biodiversity, especially mangroves, which are often undervalued by society in general. In view of this, this research aims to investigate the belonging between the Campinhos fishing community and the mangroves, based on aesthetic experiences in Canavieiras-BA. For this purpose, the work specifically aims to recognize the belonging of the people in the Campinhos community to nature and the mangroves; to analyze the meaning of the mangrove for these people; and to comprehend what the phrase “Isso aqui tá um mangue!” represents for a traditional fishing community. In order to record the aesthetic experiences, the methodological paths of A/r/tography and Paulo Freire's Pedagogical Letters were used. Data was collected through interviews with the community, and Bardin's Content Analysis was used for analysis. Throughout the research, artistic productions were created as a result of A/r/t/ography and Pedagogical Letters, as well as the interviews. These works were considered artifacts, since they are Poetic Learning Objects (PLOs). It is therefore intended that the PLOs developed in this research can mobilize new aesthetic experiences in other people, becoming teaching resources in EE and AEE to discuss belonging to nature, the beauty and ecological importance of mangroves, the knowledge and practices of a fishing community and the community nature of learning construction.