"It didn't arrest me and it didn't dipreve me of being who I am":

(mis)encounters with scool in perspective on the criminal trajectory of young woman in Belo Horizonte-MG

Abstract

Drug trafficking, with its power dynamics, is directly linked to social, economic, and racial issues. The state's "war on drugs" policy has proven ineffective, intensifying contexts of violence and incarceration, especially for black and poor youth. Women have been increasingly involved in this scenario and have been exponentially incarcerated and criminalized, adding more challenges to their life trajectories and the construction of their dreams and future plans. This article analyzes the resources mobilized by young black women to overcome involvement in criminal activities, highlighting the role of school as a space for education, social protection, and building a future, without disregarding the challenges and interruptions marked in this journey. The qualitative methodology allowed us to look at the phenomenon and its nuances, and the narrative interview was the instrument for data collection in the field. We used post-structuralist contributions as an analytical lens. The intersectional perspective provided us with the notion of the overlap of structural inequalities on subjects such as gender, race, and class. Their accounts highlighted the complexity of their criminal trajectories and evidenced the search for their survival and that of their families, as well as how the possibility of access to education, work, and affective networks was crucial for reflective processes and support for disengagement from crime. The results reveal that school, even with its contradictions and challenges, presents itself as a fundamental place for human development, social protection, building life projects, and fabricating dreams.