Docência, gênero e raça: percepções e interseccionalidades a partir de narrativas de professoras da cidade de Imperatriz - Maranhão

Abstract

This study investigates how intersectionality makes it possible to problematize the life narratives of female teachers in Imperatriz, Maranhão, considering their trajectories, educational backgrounds, entry into teaching, and permanence in the profession. It starts from the assumption that intersectionality, by articulating race, gender, and other social markers, constitutes an analytical lens capable of revealing how historical inequalities structure teaching experiences in different ways, highlighting exclusions, privileges, forms of resistance, agency, and representativeness. Supported by black feminist studies, the theoretical-methodological framework highlights how these markers affect the ways of being a teacher, the meaning of teaching, and the practice of the profession in Brazil. The research analyzes the life narratives of two groups: three teachers trained in secondary education (before LDB nº. 9394/1996) and four teachers working in the early years of the public school system in Imperatriz, Maranhão, seeking to identify how memories, experiences, material conditions, social expectations, and racial relations shape distinct trajectories, simultaneously marked by inequalities and strategies of resistance. The data were produced through discussion groups and individual narrative interviews. Recent information from INEP and IBGE was used, making it possible to compare the experiences/reports of teachers with the structural conditions that govern teaching in Brazil. It is evident that teaching, which is influenced by gender, race, and other social markers, cannot be understood as an isolated choice, but rather as a historical field in dispute, permeated by tensions, symbolic disputes, recognition, and political struggle. It is concluded that intersectionality, as an epistemological, political, and methodological perspective, is fundamental for making differences visible, denaturalizing inequalities, and reaffirming the agency of teachers in the production of their personal, professional, and collective trajectories.