Talking circle and student assembly: for a culture of peace in a school community

Abstract Part of a doctoral study5, this article examines the process of school conflicts driven by territorial forces, as well as the effort to implement democratic coexistence for a culture of peace by means of assemblies as devices in a sthat is recognized for promoting democratic education. Social cartography, including cartographic ethos and hints, is the method guiding the work. The inhabited research territory is part of a peripheral community situated at the boundary of a Brazilian state capital, within an area that forms a conurbation with a favela in another municipality. The school is public and part of the municipal education system of this capital. The teacher responsible for the class has been with it for two years and was observed engaging in territorializing practices that foster a culture of listening and respect for all forms of life among the children most of the time. We found that while the children were unrestrained—whether by the presence of the teacher or other school staff, such as coordinators and principals—some conflicts were recurrent, culminating in physical aggression. This school community uses assemblies as an institutionalized device in daily life, stimulated by the talking circles that are monthly held. One of these occasions was analyzed cartographically, which involved reflecting on how the democratic coexistence has been guided by the way this school community members coexist and interact with each other. The participation of two students from the fifth grade of basic education in a field work out of the school, at the Inhotim Institute, was in the assembly agenda and was discussed considering the literature on school violence and democratic coexistence, within a culture of peace.