Transitioning between political-cultural imaginaries about "youth": What was built and what young people say about this representation

• Grant number: 24/22693-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Ana Paula Serrata Malfitano
• Grantee: Ana Carolina dos Santos Albino
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: In Brazil, the young population only emerged as a specific focus in political agendas with the enactment of the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA) in 1990. Until then, the design of public policies addressing their demands and seeking to understand their characteristics did not explicitly target this group, being generally included under the term "child and adolescent policies," which, in practice, were directed toward children. Following the ECA, and mainly in the early decades of the 21st century, youth gained political visibility in its specificity. Currently, it is considered a priority group, explicitly incorporated into the Federal Constitution and continuously addressed in dialogue with various demands raised by different social spheres. In this process, it becomes essential to understand how the image of this group is expressed in our culture, starting from the official approaches of public policies aimed at youth, as well as to approach the vision of the young people themselves, reflecting their self-perception in shaping the cultural imagination of youth. OBJECTIVE: To understand how youth is represented in current Brazilian public policies and the political-cultural perception the group has of itself. METHODOLOGY: The research will be conducted in two phases: a documentary analysis of official records of public policies that specify their actions for youth, aiming to uncover the different definitions of this group; and the application of a semi-open questionnaire directed at young people, disseminated via virtual networks, seeking diverse responses about the meanings of being young.EXPECTED RESULTS: It is expected to understand the current cultural imagination produced by public policies about this group and to engage in dialogue with the group's own perspective on this significant life phase. Furthermore, this understanding aims to assist professionals working with young people in better directing their efforts based on this discussion.