FRONTEIRA E LAZER: AS TERRITORIALIDADES DE JOVENS BRASILEIROS NA FRONTEIRA SUL-MATO-GROSSENSE COM O ORIENTE BOLIVIANO

Abstract

This research addresses the theme "Border and Leisure: The Territorialities of Young Bolivians and Brazilians on the Border of Mato Grosso do Sul with the Bolivian East." The research was developed based on the reading and analysis of literature focused on the Brazil/Bolivia border region. The general objective was to address the border context focused on the leisure of young Brazilian and Bolivian academics in the cities of the Bolivian East and Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, on the Brazilian side. The specific objectives were to analyze the difference between leisure and sightseeing, highlight the scarcity of literature focused on the topic in question, and identify, through interviews, the main forms of leisure of young Bolivian and Brazilian university students, and whether travel between the countries is a factor in this leisure activity. The research highlights the search for leisure activities involving family and/or friends. During the interview, participants responded about leisure as a form of entertainment, both recreational and cultural. Among recreational leisure activities, the port in the city of Corumbá was the most frequently mentioned as a place to gather with friends and family and enjoy a good tereré. Among recreational leisure activities, volleyball was the most frequently mentioned among participants, and among cultural leisure activities, opinions were divided between São João, the South America Festival, performances at the Moinho Cultural, and typical Bolivian festivals. Thus, the youth segment is highlighted in universal public policies regulated by the UN/UNESCO and other government programs implemented in state and municipal public administrations. This study adopts a political-historical approach to demonstrate the progress of these actions, along with governance, leading to the consolidation of public sports policy for school and academic students, with programs supported by the Ministry of Sports, the Mato Grosso do Sul Sports and Leisure Foundation, the Corumbá Sports Foundation, the Youth Secretariat, academic outreach programs, and social institutions. Governmental administrative mapping combined with semi-structured interviews conducted at public and private universities in Corumbá and Puerto Quijarro resulted in the development of a sports project for academic-cross-border sports integration, in the modalities of table tennis, futsal, and volleyball. Categories were chosen based on the results of an evaluation of data collected in field research. Thus, the study achieved its objective by connecting cross-border life with sports life.