Imaginarios sociales sobre infancia de abuelos y abuelas que apoyan las prácticas de cuidado con niños y niñas.

Abstract

The present investigation is interested in understanding the childhood social imaginaries that a group of grandparents have who support the care practices of their grandchildren. For this, the theoretical framework is oriented to the conceptual construction of the categories of social imaginaries, childhood, culture, parenting and care practices because they are closely related to each other and the relevance of the role of grandparents in care work . The previous conceptual elements are related to the intention of establishing the theoretical bases that support the connection between the imaginary social meanings they have about childhood compared to the development of the actions they carried out with boys and girls while they grow up together with the accompaniment of the figures of their grandparents. In this way, the research question is aimed at investigating ¿What are the imaginary about childhood that grandparents and grandmothers have with the that whom they guide and support childcare practices? To answer this question, the study was carried out from a qualitative research paradigm with an interpretive approach, in order to be able to enter the realities of grandparents and grandmothers in the interest of knowing their ways of thinking, feeling and doing around to childhood. The population with which we worked were seven grandmothers and four grandparents between the ages of fifty and eighty years old, who have contributed to the support of the care work of their grandchildren and/or granddaughters who are between the ages of one and six years old. The founding theoretical element that contributed to the development of the objectives is framed in the theory of social imaginaries proposed by Cornelius Castoriadis (1975), which allows us to understand them as an infinite network of interconnected elements that are permanently present in society through of the members that make it up, having the possibility of being inexhaustibly replicated or transformed to establish permanent or changing ways of thinking and doing in relation to the different aspects that make up social life. The previous interest arises from the emphasis on history, imaginaries and social representations of childhood in the master's degree in childhood and culture at the Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. 15 This is how the present study seeks to contribute to the ways in which childhoods are understood today from the experiences of other important actors who intervene with them, as the grandparents and grandmothers are who take care of them, since they have a relevant role in shaping the lives of boys and girls. Through this research development it is desired to generate space for new fields of inquiry in which the importance of these others is recognized in the promotion of the childhoods that surround us, ideally seeking through them the improvement of living conditions and of existence of childhood today.