My name is Claudia Maisa Antunes Lins, I am Brazilian, born and raised in the interior of Bahia, in a city bathed by the São Francisco river. Juazeiro is located in one of the hottest areas of the state, in the drought polygon, a semi-arid region. I work in a public, multi-campus university, Universidade do Estado da Bahia - UNEB, an institution that, of the twenty-three campuses, fourteen are located in a semi-arid region, a region marked by poverty, as a result of poor income distribution, with negative social indices, due to the process of internal colonisation in Brazil.
The fact of working with the curricular component "Art and Education" in the Pedagogy degree at UNEB encouraged me to do doctoral research involving these two fields. And it is from the need to broaden my understanding of art and education and the immense borderline possibilities that can arise from it, from an ecology of knowledge, sensibilities and meanings, from another rationality, as Santos advocates, that I will seek the course Postcolonialisms and Global Citizenship at the Centre for Social Studies - CES, of the University of Coimbra - Portugal. Doing my PhD at CES made a difference in the performance of my creativity in research.
CES brings together a team of researchers with a high level of training, which raises the level of demand, but supports us and creates the best conditions to give the best of us, thus offering immense possibilities for sensitive and intellectual growth, having a very stimulating routine, with seminars, meetings, classes, congresses, symposia, colloquia, conferences, cultural and artistic activities and events and conferences, in a frequency that uninterruptedly mobilises our capacity to think, not only with scientific reason, but with the great reason, as Nietzsche would say, the body, with the bodies that struggle, and recognise each other, because, despite the differences we bring, and the different languages we speak/think, there are communications between the struggles, this communication is very much stimulated by the ESC in its own physical and epistemological structure.
CES offers a welcoming structure for all people, a structure that involves the physical of the institution as well as the soul, which are the employees with whom we interact during our stay at CES, we can mention the North/South Library with the zeal of Acácio Machado, Maria José Carvalho and Inês Sequeira, who do their best to help us find research materials, books, magazines and other publications. The attention of Maria José, Acácio and Inês guarantee comfort and tranquillity to our studies. The environment of the Library, perhaps the most frequented by students, ensures an excellent structure for our reception, with computers, study corners, kitchen where we could prepare our snack and/or lunch, a warm climate in winter and a team that ensures our success in our research.
During 2014 I had my work accompanied by Professor Boaventura de Sousa Santos. Working directly with Professor Boaventura was an opportunity to expand my knowledge in a safe and lucid way, as an advisor he always believed in my project, and from the beginning he affirmed that I would make an excellent thesis, helping me to find the best way from the perspective of the Epistemologies of the South. In the first orientation meetings, the professor was curious about my adaptation to the CES, asked me how I felt in the Postcolonialisms and Global Citizenship Course, showing interest in my results in the seminars, and the quality of communication with other professors in the Programme, as well as whether my project was hosted by any research funding institution. This made me realise that I was dealing not only with an internationally recognised sociologist, but also with a professor who was sensitive and attentive to the issues that gravitate around the life of a PhD student outside his or her country.
Being aware that I was without a scholarship, Professor Boaventura informed the other coordinators of the course of my situation, and one professor opened up the possibility for me to work on a proposal for an institution that, at that time, had open enrolment for the awarding of scholarships, accepting the proposal as a scientific production for the curricular component that he taught. And so it happened, I made the selection and they considered me. The result of a care that started from Professor Boaventura, and extended to the other professors of the course, an attitude that signalled how the professors of the Postcolonialisms and Global Citizenship Programme were committed to our comfort for study and to the success of each and every one of us to perform well and in excellent conditions, research.
As an advisor, Professor Boaventura did not ignore my initial condition as a researcher, recognising my limitations, and even my difficulties in aligning my way of thinking with the academic way of thinking in a doctoral context, but he never put me to shame; all the criticisms that the professor had to make, as an advisor, were made directly to me, in the orientation meetings, he never exposed me publicly. All the criticisms directed at my project were a way of underlining the challenges I had had to face, drawing attention to the importance of exercising unlearning, to advance creatively in the work, underlining also, in a persevering and hopeful way, the experience I brought to the fields that involved the research I intended to carry out.
During 2014 I met five times with Professor Boaventura de Sousa Santos, in his office, always scheduled by his secretary, Lassalete Simões; only once was the meeting scheduled by the professor himself, which was on an emergency occasion, due to the proximity of the end-of-year holidays, and the professor needed to guarantee the meeting before the end of the year, to advance in the orientation work, considering that upon his return, he would already be at the limit of the research project qualification period. I emphasise that during the orientation meetings, Professor Boaventura always treated me with respect, speaking in every sense, without putting himself in a position of superiority in relation to me, sitting in an armchair, and me in an armchair next to him, so that we could see each other face to face, without office delimiting hierarchies; the teacher never touched any part of my body, neither my knees, nor my arms, nor my legs, nor my waist. As a friend, who also saw him, he hugged me at times when I needed that friendly embrace.
During my time at the CES, I observed that Professor Boaventura included us in the many academic and cultural activities of the CES, he did have a demanding attitude that corresponded to him, as advisor to many doctoral and post-doctoral projects and also as articulator of these various spaces that were possible meetings and exchanges within the field of studies and research carried out at the CES, Thus, we kept in touch with each other through the seminars of the Alice Project, the master classes of the professors, the book launching events and also the meetings, always with great joy on the part of all those who had the opportunity to share these collective moments.
The ESC has a policy of openness to creative proposals from students, encouraging autonomy in the preparation and realisation of scientific events, such as seminars and exhibitions, for example, which then become part of the official programme of the ESC calendar. I presented papers at colloquia and congresses organised by the CES, coordinated round tables at scientific events, held seminars in alliance with other spaces such as the theatre and the foundation, held exhibitions, and participated as a listener in seminars organised by doctoral and postdoctoral colleagues.
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