Reproductive/Care Work in the Brazilian social formation: public policies in discourse

• Grant number: 24/22156-7
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: June 01, 2025
• End date: May 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Mónica Graciela Zoppi Fontana
• Grantee: Mónica Graciela Zoppi Fontana
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Ana Josefina Ferrari ; Gabriel Dvoskin ; Gilda Lucía Zukerfeld ; Glória da Ressurreição Abreu França ; Jael Sânera Sigales Gonçalves ; Laís Virginia Alves Medeiros ; Luciana Iost Vinhas ; Luciana Nogueira ; Maite Martínez Romagosa ; María Julia Zullo ; Mariana Jafet Cestari ; Natalia Rome ; Raquel Noronha Siqueira ; Sheila Elias de Oliveira ; Silvia Hernandez ; Sóstenes Ericson Vicente da Silva ; Tyara Veriato Chaves

Abstract

Recently, various initiatives of the Federal Government have focused on discussing and formulating a National Care Policy. This involves a broad discussion among different public administration sectors, civil society, and professional associations. The Conceptual Framework for formulating the National Care Policy and the National Care Plan was released in 2023. For the formulation of the report, collaborative writing technologies were used, which included, among other methods: public consultations through a voting system, the drafting of comments and amendment proposals on a base document open to public collaboration, remote work meetings, and the public dissemination of related events. In November 2024, the Chamber of Deputies approved the substitute for Bill 2762/24, which establishes the National Care Policy. This strong ministerial and parliamentary movement demonstrates, on one hand, a political agenda for the establishment of public policies related to care work, and on the other hand, the predominant role of communication and language technologies in facilitating a multifaceted and national-level debate, in disseminating knowledge, and primarily in producing consensus. In this sense, the project we propose aims to participate in this broad discussion by providing input based on an analysis of the implicated discursive practices and their circulation in society, to critically formulate care policies, both at the State and civil society levels. Our main contribution consists of: 1) analysing the production of evidential effects around the meaning of designations such as "care," "reproductive/care work," "domestic work," "care workers," "domestic workers," among others, in their social circulation, considering their enunciation from the contradiction between various ideological positions and places of enunciation; and 2) analysing the role of communication and language technologies, here understood as digital discourse (Dias, 2018), in the production of consensus and the construction of archives; 3- analysing the reading gestures (perception/interpretation) about the care policies that circulate among the workers who perform this activity and in the population served, with emphasis on the elderly population. The theoretical-methodological framework mobilizes Materialist Discourse Analysis (AD) and Social Reproduction Theory (TRS). The corpus analysed is heterogeneous, covers the period from 2023 to 2024, and consists of materials available in public and open access. It includes, among others, official documents, records of parliamentary sessions, open access audiovisual records of public hearings, records of public consultations, petitions related to the theme, statements by public figures, explanatory or contestation materials in public circulation produced by professional associations, non-governmental organizations, popular leaders and wiki platforms. As outcomes, we expect to 1) advance in the articulation between the conceptual frameworks of Materialist Discourse Analysis and Social Reproduction Theory, and contribute to the understanding of the role of communication and language technologies in the production of consensus around the formulation of public policies; 2) provide input for the conceptual formulation and social circulation of meanings about reproductive/care work as a basis for the construction of public policies; 3) produce scientific dissemination materials; 4) produce scientific publications and participate in joint scientific events; 5) strengthen interinstitutional relationships between the research groups and laboratories of the partner institutions. (AU)