Powerful spaces for equality, emancipation and democracy: a look at the CRAS in a southern Brazilian City

Abstract

This article is part of an extensive research project whose objective was to research the workers from Centros de Referência de Assistência Social (CRAS) regarding their doings with groups and collectives, and experiences of political subjectivation, in Brazilian counties. This article focuses on workers' understanding of CRAS users, in a county of the southern region. Through semi-structured interviews, video-recorded and conducted collectively with the CRAS teams, we seek an analysis focused on the subjects' discourse, based on Jacques Rancière's thinking and dialoguing with the PNAS guidelines. The results point to discourses in which are identified, in most of it, by relationships with users guided by the principle of equality, indicating practices towards the emancipation. Considering that the CRAS enables an expansion of the political exercise of the communities where they are located, there is a need for maintenance and investment in these services.