WHERE DOES THE FIELD OF POPULAR EDUCATION IS GOING TO? ISSUES THAT STILL SET THE CURRENT DEBATE IN THE FIELD

Abstract

This article is dedicated to identifying and problematizing issues involving Popular
Education and the State, based on the analysis of research carried out in the field of Popular Education.
The emergence of popular governments in Latin America, starting in the 2000s, produces changes in the way that Popular Education actors relate to the State, presenting new challenges and questions for
the subjects that make up this field. Based on this understanding, an in-depth study of doctoral theses is
carried out that present analyses focusing on Popular Education and the State, establishing some
relationship between them. The research selected works defended between the years 2000 and 2013, in
graduate programs in education of Brazilian universities, configuring itself as a contribution to a state of
the art on the themes in question. It is a theoretical-bibliographic research based on a critical-dialectical
theoretical approach. In general, it is possible to state that, in the studies analysed, the ability of Popular
Education, as a political-pedagogical practice, to contribute to the transformation of capitalist society is
the key issue that permeates all debates. The results of the research, among other elements, are the
existence of a dispute of meanings and objectives, with regard to Popular Education; the predominance
of the finding of shared responsibility in the execution or formulation of government policies and
programs, with regard to the relationship between Popular Education and the State; the concentration
of analyses on the impacts and implications that such shares bring to social and popular organizations
and movements.