Desafios e estratégias na pós-graduação: uma conversa necessária

Abstract

This book is the result of a collective movement, from the concerns of people involved in Stricto Sensu Graduate Studies (Masters and PhDs) and willing to reflect on the challenges that permeate the academic environment and the strategies used to face them. Graduate studies is an environment full of prestige, achievements, joys and encounters. However, there are also fears, frustrations, withdrawals, physical and psychological illnesses - issues that are not often brought to light. Who is willing to talk about pain and controversial topics? At times the discussions seem unpropositional in the sense that ways of dealing with the challenges they face are debated. Complaining is important, but so is thinking about ways to overcome what one experiences! What challenges do people experience in Master's and Doctoral programs? What strategies do they build to deal with them? These concerns led us to organize an event: a space for exchange, venting, talking, listening, and collective learning. A meeting where people immersed in the Academy could build a provocative and welcoming environment, a ground for debates about experiences, challenges and strategies. Thus, "Strategies in the Post" began to take shape. We knew that it would not be easy to look at these subjects, which are little discussed and quite controversial. We did not want the event to be a wall of lamentation; and we knew that by dealing with sensitive issues we could suffer some sanctions and even retaliations. Nevertheless, we went ahead. The proposal was not only to have a theoretical discussion about graduate studies. Our interest was in the experiences: what are the strategies used to deal with the challenges experienced in Master's and Doctoral programs? The experiences brought in the working sessions highlighted the plurality of challenges experienced and the flexibility in the ways of dealing with them. They were moments of identification, sharing, but also of disagreement and strangeness - what is expected from a dialogic and diverse environment. We were able to connect people who have experienced challenges in their Master's and Doctoral programs, from different regions of the country. After the event, we discussed everything that happened along the way and how rich and rare it was. It moved us. It crossed us. It provoked us. We felt that we would like to continue the conversations that took place at the event. We felt that these discussions could contribute to other people. We would like to enhance and broaden the discussions of subjects that are little treated in the academy. We decided that a book could be an interesting tool for this purpose. We invited some of the participants to write texts related to the event's theme. The acceptance of the authors in building this work with us was an act of extreme courage, daring, and resistance. We are taken, now, by a feeling of gratitude and joy for the collective construction, and we hope that this book can disquiet and contribute with more people.