Cidade como metáfora de si: representação socioespacial de Cuiabá-MT segundo a criança

Abstract

This article proposes a discussion about the relationship between child and the city, by comprehensive analysis of speech associated to the city map built by the participant child, with the objective of reflection about aspects of its identity constitution in this relationship. The analyses of significances is oriented by the articulation between the Theory of Cultural- History (VIGOTSKI, 2009, 2010) and the Theory of Social Representations (MOSCOVICI, 2003), this one in the dialogue with the studies of Jodelet (1982, 2001). The studies of Tuan (1980, 1983), about the notion of place, topofilia and topofobia also integrates the theorical reference that, in its group, makes possible to comprehend the relationship between child and city as an important aspect of the infantile development. The adopted methodological procedures to the seizure of sociospatial representation happened by the collection of the city drawing, inspired in the proposal of cognitive maps (ALBA, 2011), followed by semi-structured interview with a child of one municipal school of Basic Education of Cuiabá, MT. The analysis of the interview and the city map was oriented by the comprehensive perspective of the speech and it revealed that sociospatial representation of the city of Cuiabá is influenced by values, experiences and the child’s affection, there being elements of its particularities, but that are also results of socially established relations. Furthermore, it is noticed that affection places permeate the process of the child’s identity formation, aspect that allows announcing that, in some amount, the city is taken as a metaphor of itself.