Ethnography and learning in practice: exploring pathways from the case of soccer in Brazil

Abstract

This study presents reflections developed while conducting research on learning in different social practice settings. The common framework that allowed the dialogue between different studies and empirical contexts has drawn from Jean Lave’s learning approach (1991; 2011) in dialogue with authors such as Gregory Bateson (1972) and Tim Ingold (2000). The practices investigated are marked by their singularity regarding fields that characterize the Brazilian society, such as soccer, Afro–Brazilian religions, and indigenous traditional practices. All investigations focused on practices in their diverse configurations in different settings, which nearly always includes the school, which is resituated from the viewpoint of the practice under research. Some recurring aspects suggested that cultural learning may be considered a research subject that crosses disciplinary boundaries and reveals unexpected facets of practices that mark the contemporary scenario of Brazil. The article specifically discusses conceptual and methodological reflections in a double movement: focusing on relevant and common aspects that emerged in the analysis, especially that of the emblematic case of soccer, the learning of which is widespread in Brazil; and repositioning ethnography as a basis for conducting such task, thus producing reflections on ethnographic practice.