Settled youth experiences and learnings in higher education: Between Venezuela and Brazil

Abstract

The article focuses on the theme of rural education, with attention to education in agrarian reform settlements and the right of young people to access higher education. The objective is to reflect on the experiences and learnings of young settlers in the Vale do Rio Doce region, in Minas Gerais, Brazil, marked by the struggle for land and the migratory culture, whose access to higher education places them in the position of migrants. The theoretical framing of this article is in dialogue with studies on countryside education and rural youth, territory, and migration, and to reflect on the learnings of young people, adopts the theoretical perspective of the relation with knowledge proposed by Bernard Charlot. Data were produced based on the biographical reports written by the young settlers and oral interviews. The analysis shows the educational trajectory towards higher education, territorial links, experiences, and learnings through “learning figures” (Charlot, 2000, 2009, 2021). The learning figures identified in the Being There movement (in Venezuela, at the university) and, at the same time, Being Here (in Brazil, at the settlement) are: routine, militancy, and return. The results show that the experiences and learnings in another country of settled young people reaffirm their territorial identity, and they wish to return to the country of origin with their doctoral qualifications.