“There are back walking back and forth”: walking with children – the research in campesino context

Abstract

This article discusses the walking with children in campesino context as a methodological possibility for the research with children. Based on some ethnographic approach suppositions, the walks with the children are described as a methodological tool able to offer elements to interact with them in their social dynamics. The action of walking with the children enables developing a careful attitude concerning the gaps and clues offered by them about the (re)interpretation they make of the community culture and the culture of the families, especially the practice of fishing and the rural work. The interpretative processes carried out by the children, in their intergenerational relationships and within generations, are approached based on the concepts of interpretative reproduction and the culture of peers. The study supports methodologies which value the acting of the children as interpreters of their community and family cultures, and as active participants in the development and in the organization of the investigative processes. It illustrates how the walking with children favored a greater approach to children’s cultures and offered conditions for sensitive listening to their voices.