DO JOGO DE FORÇAS NOS ESPAÇOS PÚBLICOS DA UNIVERSIDADE A SEUS ATRAVESSAMENTOS DISCURSIVOS

Abstract

This article undertakes the task of analyzing significant inscriptions produced by activist academics on the walls of the social space at the Federal University of Tocantins (UFT)/Araguaína campus Cimba between 2016 and 2018. Also within the scope of analysis are significant inscriptions formulated by those not affiliated with the student movement and/or its agendas. Within this institutional framework, we proceed from the premise that, despite attempts to normalize (the "legal" effect) and manage (the "administrative" effect) public spaces, the political (the effect of unequal distribution of meanings) intervenes, potentially accentuating the struggle for meaning in university public life. In light of the principles of Materialist Discourse Analysis, we focus on significant inscriptions, specifically formulations that signify positions taken in the institutional power play. From these positions, we trace the discursive crossings marked by the ink that graffiti the inscriptions and the ink that paints them, or even the ink that paints over other inscriptions, aiming to delegitimize the student movement and its agendas. Methodologically, we utilize photographic records taken over these years, through which we thematize both verbal and visual elements, signifying the situation of conflict and the struggle for meaning in the university. The analyses highlight the discursive crossings of national and local agendas, bringing into play other types of social formations to which significant inscriptions are affiliated.