Migrações e educomunicação: apropriações da temática migratória por educandos de escolas públicas de São Gabriel - RS

Abstract

This thesis aimed to analyze the appropriations made by students from public schools in São Gabriel (RS) during educommunicative workshops focused on migration, with the goal of developing critical knowledge linked to the construction of intercultural citizenship. Grounded in the principles of educommunication — especially the contributions of Paulo Freire, Simón Rodríguez, and Mario Kaplún — and the concept of communicative citizenship, the research was based on the methodology of action research. In the field of migration studies, critical approaches were incorporated that understand human mobility within global contexts, drawing on authors such as Cogo, Sayad, Appadurai, and Martín-Barbero. To contextualize migration processes in Brazil and in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the study also engaged with authors such as Patarra, Seyferth, Lesser, and Hobsbawm. The workshops were held at Colégio Tiradentes da Brigada Militar and involved critical analysis of media content, contextualization of human mobility — with a focus on Senegalese, Haitian, and Venezuelan migrations, all ethnic groups present in São Gabriel (RS) —, migrant testimonies, fanzine production, and debates on citizenship and interculturality. The main findings highlight the ability of educommunicative practices to promote shifts in perspectives on migration and media, even if in a partial and ongoing manner; the strengthening of students' communicative autonomy, evidenced in their critical analyses and in their authored productions with original meanings and intercultural listening — elements that signal the emergence of communicative citizenship; the importance of articulating active listening, media authorship, and critical reflection on digital technologies; and the validation of methodological tools such as the deconstruction script for media narratives. The research reaffirms that intercultural and critical citizenship practices are built slowly, contextually, and are shaped by school, family, and media-related mediations. It concludes that the integration of critical media education with critical migration education is a powerful pathway for forming more sensitive, reflective, and politically engaged subjects committed to pluralism and human rights.