Human formation in a context of violence: a clinical understanding from the standpoint of Edith Steins phenomenology

Author(s)

Suzana Filizola Brasiliense Carneiro

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Psicologia (IP/SBD)
• Defense date: 2016-05-30

Examining board members

Andrés Eduardo Aguirre Antúnez; Vitória Helena Cunha Espósito; Márcio Luiz Fernandes; Miguel Mahfoud; Gilberto Safra

• Advisor: Andrés Eduardo Aguirre Antúnez; Angela Ales Bello

Abstract

This study, based on Edith Steins Phenomenology, has aimed to understand the fundamental lived experiences of people living in a context of violence, as well as to inquire into the repercussions of these lived experiences to their formative process. The research was conducted in Salvador, Bahia, in the Uruguai neighborhood, an area known as Alagados. The gathering of the lived experiences was done by means of a daily journal and 15 open ended interviews with inhabitants of the area. The analysis was executed in two moments. At first, we selected four interviews (2 men and 2 women) and did an individual analysis of the participants, in the light of the constitutive dimensions of the person according to Edith Stein (psycho-physical, spiritual and interpersonal lived experiences, religious and ethical aspects). For the second moment we selected, from among the 15 interviews, meaningful lived experiences for the participants from a formative standpoint, and grouped them according to 8 fundamental lived experiences: 1) the lived experience of improvisation (the urgency of life); 2) the lived experience of death; 3) the lived experience of woundedness; 4) the lived experience of violence; 5) the lived experience of solidarity; 6) the lived experience of the periphery; 7) the lived experience of maternity; and 8) the lived experience of religiosity. The individual analysis of the 4 participants allowed us to identify a common formative movement, featuring high intensity psycho-physical lived experiences which culminated in the experience of personal limits in the face of a situation of imminent death. This latter experience, in its turn, led to the experience of the listening of the self and the recognition of an interior appeal towards fulfillment (the personal nucleus), originating the purpose of giving life a new direction. However, this purposes achievement did not take place automatically, but was characterized by moments of inner struggle between this decision (proper to the spiritual dimension) and the reactive psychological movement of the search of welfare and security, which pointed towards keeping the person in her status quo. The last recognized moment was the free decision to follow the sensed appeal, setting off a process of transformation of the person and her context. We observed, also, during this process, that the recognition of the personal nucleuss appeal is not enough for the person to take over her lifes direction, but that she needs a minimal amount of vital force in order to be fulfilled in this direction. Accordingly, we have identified 5 sources of the spiritual vital force that will support the participants in this process, which may serve as signposts for future interventions: 1) the neighborhoods history; 2) art (dance, music, films); 3) the experience of solidarity; 4) the persons own life history (witness); and 5) religiosity. We have also discovered, as orientation points for future interventions, the need of work that allows the inhabitants to express their lived experiences and to develop their spiritual dimension (intellect and will). Finally, we have been able to witness the beauty and the strength of the human person, both of which no violent context has the power to dispel (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/05712-9 - The human formation in the context of violence: a clinical understanding from Edith Stein's phenomenology
• Grantee: Suzana Filizola Brasiliense Carneiro
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate