Migração nos "caminhos de rios": juventude, resistência e formação universitária na região amazônica

Abstract

The expansion of the offer of higher education produced positive impacts in terms of increasing offers and educational institutions. However, there are several problems that involve the quality of higher education (undergraduate) in a country with the geographic dimensions of Brazil, the regional diversities and great social inequalities. One problem refers to large urban centers, which implies many difficulties in accessing students from more remote and poor places. In the state of Amazonas the offer of higher education courses, either in public or private universities, occurs mostly in the city of Manaus, migration being one of the only forms that young people from other municipalities have to continue their training, having as challenges the difficult mobility between the municipalities of Amazonas, material, symbolic and emotional difficulties involved in migration processes. Assuming that migrating in order to take an undergraduate course bring a series of changes in the lives of young university students from municipalities in the interior of Amazonas, this study aimed to know the trajectory of schooling with emphasis on psychosocial processes that migration for the purpose of continuing studies at a higher level engenders in the life of an undergraduate student in Manaus. The specific objectives were: 1) to know the sociopolitical, institutional and relational resources for immigrant university students; 2) to know the adversities of the immigrant's trajectory; 3) to know the coping strategies presented in this trajectory; 4) understand the meanings attributed by the students to the experiences resulting from the destination trajectory to undertake higher education. A young university student participated in the research who, at the time of the research, was close to completing her course at Universidade Federal do Amazonas. The narrative interview was used as an instrument to know the life story of the young woman. The information was analyzed in the light of theories based on cultural-historical psychology and on the theory of resilience, according to Boris Cyrulnik. The interpretative analysis aimed to identify the indicators of meaning based on the objectives proposed in the research. As the results, it was observed that migration appears as a means of accessing education even in the initial grades of schooling; migration impacts identity processes, modifies the sociocultural context of origin, transforms support networks, negatively interferes with mental health and lacks institutional support for an adequate performance at graduation; gender issues predispose to violence; the family nucleus can be configured at risk or protection to the permanence in the course; and among the resources of resistance are solidarity networks and activities such as art. The focus on obtaining the diploma works as an element to persevere. It is concluded that the lack of knowledge of the reality of migrant students and the absence of institutional support are the factors that most make it impossible for young people to remain in dignified and adequate conditions for higher education.