Docentes lésbicas nas ciências: trajetórias acadêmicas, práxis pedagógicas e pesquisa

Abstract

In Brazil, the topic of lesbians in Sciences (Physics, Chemistry and Biological Sciences courses) is still little explored, this is due to the misogyny and androcentrism that historically permeate this field of knowledge. Thus, in an attempt to advance such studies, the doctoral research aimed to analyze how the affective-sexual orientation of lesbian professors in the area of Natural Sciences relates to their academic trajectories, pedagogical and research praxis. In the research, a qualitative approach was used, using the life history method and narratives of lesbian teachers. The research was carried out with lesbian university professors who teach in the area of Natural Sciences at Public Universities and Federal Institutes of Bahia (Higher Education Institutions – IES). To find lesbian women in science, the “snowball” method was used, so the sample consists of three teachers who agreed to participate in this study. The method used was the teachers' life stories, based on a semi-structured interview, and the data production instrument was a previously developed and validated script. The research process had three stages to reach the answer to the general objective, the first being bibliographical research, the second the construction of the theory of human of pluralities pedagogies and the third the search, through semi-structured interviews, of the narratives of teachers and applicability of the theory human pluralities pedagogies as a theoretical-methodological assumption for the analysis of narratives. The study obtained the following results: a) hostility and conservatism in HEIs still require teachers to develop different strategies to insert themselves and establish themselves in academia; b) the challenges and violence attributed by patriarchy prevent teachers from feeling safe to speak openly about their affective-sexual orientation, a fact that may have impacted the number of study participants; c) the confrontations of lesbian teachers in HEIs are daily and important, as their existence in multiple sciences can pave paths for other lesbians to follow; d) the representation of lesbians in science can help to tension the structural lesbophobias forged by patriarchy in HEIs and contribute to the construction of plural and diverse HEIs. It is concluded that the research has potential and can contribute so that other researchers on the topic can advance so that lesbian experiences can produce other epistemologies that favor the understanding of lesbianism and its social contributions to the sciences. After all, identity research contributes to understanding identities and promoting respect for diversity in its pluralities. Finally, this study can contribute to the area of Natural Sciences as it is part of a field under construction, paving the way for other research that intersects genders and sexualities.