PAULO FREIRE TENT AS A PARTICIPATORY QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DEVICE

Abstract

The Paulo Freire Tent was developed based on the epistemologies of Paulo Freire and decoloniality, which critique hegemonic domination that generates exclusion and violence and is sustained by racist and sexist ideologies. Objective: To describe the experience of implementing the Paulo Freire Tent at a scientific event and analyze a synthesis of the records concerning demands, characteristics, and problems in nursing education and health. Method: This experience report describes the Tent at the XII Brazilian Congress of Obstetric Nursing in Brasília and was structured as action research with the following stages: Construction, conducted during the eight months before the event through virtual meetings; Implementation, including presentations and dialogues, welcoming, and care during the four days of the event; and Developments, over the 12 months after the event. Results: There were 130 participants of different ages, race/color groups, sexual identities, educational levels, and institutional/organizational affiliations. The synthesis of the records, approved by the participants, helped elucidate the complex relationship among diversity, exclusion, and people's rights, as well as their knowledge, needs, and care in the context of sexual and reproductive health. Conclusion: The three Freirean principles—respect, interaction, and lovingness—guided the identification of issues to be problematized, such as freedom of choice, the caring dimension of health work, human rights, and the potential to overcome forms of submission and domination present in technocratic and hegemonic obstetric care. Dialogues and experiences grounded in these epistemologies promoted awareness and critical reflection that may contribute to changes in health education processes and public policies, given the transversal and interdisciplinary nature of knowledge production and viable approaches to problem-solving, in the search for inclusive and respectful solutions. They reinforced collective knowledge, multiple forms of dialogue, the recovery of regional culture and ancestry, the integration of multiple care settings, and sensitive listening.