In this paper, we analyze literacy practices and representations in the comic books genre produced by undergraduates taking the Rural Education degree. The research is based on literacy theories and is situated in the applied field of language.
This is a participatory research, with a qualitative-interpretative approach. The corpus consists of texts from six examples of the comic books genre, and transcribed excepts from three interviews conducted with research collaborators. Because this genre has a union of different language systems verbal and non-verbal , the research revealed traces of literacy that students have in their life experiences. As the research collaborators come from different communities located in rural areas, they present diverse and peculiar literacy practices and representations.
Trata-se de uma pesquisa participante, de abordagem qualitativo-interpretativista. Rural Education Degrees are part of the public policies for Rural Education carried out in recent years in Brazil by the Ministry of Education MEC , an achievement resulting from the struggles of social movements, trade unions, intellectuals, and universities seeking to provide a degree that would include and respect the diversities, particularities, and heterogeneity of rural communities in the formative processes.
Therefore, the context of our research is the only Rural Education course with a degree in Arts and Music in Brazil. In other words, the specific training in Rural Education in this area occurred due to the need and shortage of qualified teachers for teaching that would meet the demands presented in the field in this Brazilian region, to have teachers qualified in related areas, including Arts and Music.
In accordance with MEC guidelines, approximately 44 Rural Education Degrees currently operating in Brazil have their curriculum organized in stages or modules equivalent to regular semesters completed in pedagogical alternation between university time TU and community time TC.
