Como as crianças analisam situações interculturais? Um estudo qualitativo

Abstract

Many societies are becoming more culturally diverse. Due to phenomena like globalization and migration, many ethnic, cultural, and religious groups need to coexist. Thus, intercultural competence becomes a crucial ability to guarantee the respect for human rights of all, despite their background (Schwarzenthal et al., 2019) and reduce conflicts when different belief systems and world interpretations interact. However, it is necessary to have a better understanding of whether and in what ways this mutual comprehension and respect are present from an early age, i.e., at school age, since schools, as spaces of cultural convergence, have the potential to develop intercultural competence (Acevedo, 2019). The aim of this study was to understand how children analyze intercultural situations and what knowledge and belief systems they apply in their analysis of a specific situation presented to them. To capture this content, the children's narratives (n = 31) were documented through semi-structured interviews at two points in time, at the beginning and end of the school year, and followed by a mixed thematic analysis. As a result of this analysis, we identified 4 predominant themes: (1) References to social conventions, rules, or authority; (2) References to negative judgements or to reluctance towards difference; (3) References to human rights or values; and (4) References to cultural aspects.