CULTURAL EXCHANGES IN THE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT: THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE IDENTITY OF IMMIGRANT CHILDREN IN MUNICIPAL SCHOOLS

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the construction of cultural identity in migratory contexts, with special attention to the experiences of immigrants and, in particular, immigrant children in the school environment. Immigrant children, upon entering a new sociolinguistic context, construct hybrid identities in which elements of their culture of origin and Brazilian culture coexist. This hybridization demonstrates the children's capacity to re-signify their experiences and create new forms of belonging, mediated by pedagogical practices and relationships with peers and teachers. Based on the theoretical contributions of authors such as Sayad (1998), Hall (2014), Cardozo (2012), among others, this study seeks to understand identity as a dynamic, relational, and historically situated process, marked by transience, negotiation, and tensions between cultures of origin and host cultures. By problematizing concepts such as immigration, reculturation, diaspora, identification, and cultural identity, the text clarifies that the migratory experience transcends merely economic or territorial dimensions, involving profound symbolic, affective, and social implications. In this sense, the school emerges as a central space in which the identities of immigrant children are constantly constructed, negotiated, and re-signified in daily interactions.