Abstract
The present project is an unfolding line of research on the study of the infants and their participation in contexts of collective early childhood education, now with expansion of cases and greater internationalization of research. This line began with my master degree (FAPESP), which studied mediation processes in the adaptation of infants to day-care centers (Amorim, 1997). It was concluded with other questions that led to two new projects: 1) doctorate (Concretization of discourses and historical-social practices, in situation of infants attendance in day care) (Amorim, 2002); And, 2) postdoctoral (The baby, the body and the sign). Both - supported by FAPESP - analyzed aspects of cultural and corporeal development in the first year of life, particularly in the situation of infancy and attendance of infants in the day care center. This line was expanded to investigate emotional expressiveness, communication, language, motor development and interaction (including baby-baby). These studies were conducted through several undergraduate and graduate students, interrelated to regular FAPESP founding (embodiment and meanings in developmental processes, in the first year of life (2006-2008); Language, communication and significance in developmental processes, in the first two years of (2010-2012); and, Interaction, bonding and attachment in relationships and contexts involving infants and young children (2014-2016)), all under my supervision. This material was re-analyzed resulting in my livre-doncencia thesis, Language, communication and signification in babies (Amorim, 2013). With the goal of deepening the knowledge about several elements related to this age group, new studies sought to apprehend the children's affective skills (just ended FAPESP project and BPq CNPq project, in course), the perceptual and capabilities of the body that contribute to Development processes, always considering the experiences of the baby in different contexts (such as leaving the house to start attending a day care center). In the construction of this knowledge, whose context involves diverse relational partners (besides the mother and family), a series of questions have repeatedly emerged. How the relations of the babies with the families of origin and the people of the institution are reconstructed? How could one consider infant's affective relation (traditionally called attachment) in these processes in which the child starts attending day care in the first months of life? Would it be possible to build links with non-family members such as day-care workers? Would these educators correspond to figures of attachment? Still, what would the relations with the pairs of age represent? Integrated to this and on the base of all the questions, marking the analysis of the processes, the culture and the socioeconomic aspects stand out. This led to the attempt to consider such processes in diverse cultures. Initially, the analysis of processes of infants and young children attending day-care centers in collective education institutions in Brazil and Finland was conducted through an international inter-institutional exchange with Profa. Niina Rutanen (University of Tampere, Finland) (Rutanen, Amorim, Colus & Piattoeva, 2013; Rutanen, Amorim & Costa, 2016). This issue is now expanded and systematically being studied in seven different countries, through a project involving the Universities of Strathclyde (Scotland, Prof. Helen Marwick), Jyväskylä (Finland, Prof. Niina Rutanen), Auckland (Samoa, Prof. Meripa Toso), Monash (Australia, Prof. Corine Rivaland), Arkansas (USA, Prof. Jennifer K. Henk), Waikato (New Zealand, Prof. Jayne White) and the University of São Paulo (Brazil, Prof. Katia de Souza Amorim), through the project entitled Infant's transition - Social and emotional experiences in the first year of transition from home to an early years setting for infants. (AU)