Live a complete communication experience – 06/23/2023 – Policies and Justice

The globalized and interconnected world brought the promise of an encounter with otherness, that is, a bet on the approximation of cultures and societies. But, in the face of extreme hate speech, misinformation, rejection of what is different and the intensification of communication and social bubbles, we can say that, currently, we are experiencing a “mismatch” with the other. As the algorithm is not neutral, and its structure can define and shape the thinking and general perception of civilization, it is urgent to think of ways to expand the points of view of children and young people so that, in the encounter with otherness, there is space to flourish the understanding of the different cultures and realities that inhabit the same “one” planet.

Understanding communication and education as central fields in facing inequalities and in the construction of practices and/or situations that increase awareness of diversity, I present here the photographic expeditions – #helipavisita – that we carried out with students, young people from 13 to 20 years old, residents of Heliópolis, the largest peripheral favela in São Paulo. “Helipa” is the affectionate nickname with which the locals refer to her.

The initial idea was to photograph the favela so that we could think about that environment, but based on their demand – “we never leave (the favela) and when we do, it’s close by” — it was not difficult to perceive the “spatial determinism ” to which these young people are subject. Of course, some go out more, others never, but the difficulty of “coming and going” is clear until they start working and can pay for their transport. Therefore, the vast majority did not know Av. Paulista, one of the most democratic spaces in the city and on the same subway line that serves the favela.

At the same time that they don’t know much about the city, these young people have cell phones and are connected producing and receiving communications all the time. Even those who don’t have mobile internet can find a wi-fi point. free and connect very easily: they access “the world” through their cell phones.

It is important to observe the faces of this contradiction. On the one hand, thousands of young people living on the outskirts of large cities are deprived of access to the polis and the practices and senses of citizenship. On the other hand, these same young people are captured by the seductions of digital communication networks, with their symbolic and deterministic constraints.

So, in dialogue with the group, we decided to investigate other environments outside the favela. We would go out to “photograph” places that they would like to visit in São Paulo or that dialogue with the theory of the classes. We made the city our classroom, and photography our way of apprehending it through physical and intersubjective encounters, communication through gestures, dialogues, reflections and recognition.

We lived several very rich and spontaneous experiences. During a walk in Parque da Luz, one of the students, when photographing a foreign girl who ended up joining the walk, realized that she spoke Spanish well and reinforced the dream of traveling to Argentina. Having lunch with the class at the Pinacoteca, at the end, another student said in surprise: “wow, teacher, Helipa’s coxinha is much, much better than the one I ate here!!”. Meeting the other coxinha, or reflecting on the other, is a way of knowing how good your coxinha is, that is, of recognizing yourself as a subject. And it is this perspective that is interesting to highlight with the proposal of the meetings that we carry out.

Research in the field of education and communication indicates how emancipating it can be to live a complete communication experience. This practice approximates differences in sociocultural environments, values ​​otherness relationships and, thus, triggers the notions of belonging and recognition as subjects of the world.

It is in this sense that public policies and/or educational projects must be guided: offering scenarios for sociability between extremes, the opportunity to experience other perspectives, the encounter with the “other”, regardless of whether this is a person, an avenue or a drumstick.

The urgency for this century and the next is to develop an awareness of responsibility in and about us. This is exactly the objective of the photographic expeditions that we carry out. Then you ask: But what about photography? Photography serves to link us to the world because we are not looking for the best “image” of it, but rather to activate the perception, cognition and intuition of young people who face a reality of extreme social inequality.

The editor, Michael França, asks each participant of the space “Politics and Justice” of the Sheet suggest a song to the readers. In this text, the one chosen by Roberta Dabdab was “Os Mais Doces Bárbaros”, by Doces Bárbaros.

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