Territory and public policies: a path of Permanent Education

Abstract

The territory has been an increasingly valued concept in public policies, especially in the social protection field. This work aims to analyze the meanings of the territory for workers of medium complexity in the Unified Social Assistance System of the city of Joinville, SC. The research proposal, guided by intervention research, took place through a formative path mediated by aesthetic workshops, whose characteristic is the development of creative activities followed by a discussion group. Five meetings took place over three hours each, and a focus group with the participants at the end of the course. With the territory dimensions as guiding concepts, in the activities proposed for each meeting, we used the map of the municipality in question as a methodological resource, which proved to be a powerful resource for thinking about the territory and its specificities. The information produced by the route was analyzed using the content analysis method, which generated the following categories: senses of the territory and the intervention research path; encounter between conceptual perspectives and experience with the territory; and territory and city: perceptions (un)constructed in social assistance practice. The research became a space of meaning because the path made it possible to produce a reflection on the participants from what emerged between these subjects and the discussion about territory, understanding it as one of the fundamental concepts in public policies. Therefore, the research meeting was configured as a significant act.