Abstract

MARTINEZ, Silvia Adriana  and  ELISONDO, Romina Cecilia. Graffiti in secondary school: voices of the protagonists. Cuad. Investig. Educ. [online]. 2019, vol.10, n.1, pp.27-42. ISSN 1510-2432.  https://doi.org/10.18861/cied.2019.10.1.2879.

Multiple texts, messages and written productions inhabit the schools. The presence of graffiti on furniture and educational buildings is apparent, but scarcely analyzed and discussed. The objective of this research is to analyze from the perspectives of students, teachers, preceptors and assistants, the meanings built around school graffiti. The study was carried out in two middle level public education institutes in the city of Córdoba (Argentina). Open questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection strategies. 55 students and 15 teachers answered the questionnaire. Six key informants were interviewed: a cleaning assistant, two recognized graffiti artists and three preceptors. The sample selection was intentional and based on criteria. The data emerging from various groups and instruments were triangulated. For data analysis, coding procedures and constant comparison method were used. Five categories were formed to analyze the following: the contents of graffiti, their communicative intentions, the spaces where they are created, the materials that are used, and the educational potentials of these youth productions. The results indicate predominance of themes related to identity, sexuality, violence, consumption and emotions. Graffiti communicate current social problems, transgress institutional norms and are means of aesthetic and creative expression of young people. The participants in the study point out numerous educational potentials of graffiti as resources to generate dialogical and collaborative learning and teaching contexts. Graffiti are productions of young people, which emerge in the interstices and enable new educational spaces to address cross-cutting social issues. Graffiti indicate possible ways to create genuine communicative processes in educational institutions.

Keywords : graffiti; high school; communication; youth; identity; sexuality; violence; consumption; emotions.

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