Transformative learning. Experiences of young people in a social circus of Buenos Aires

Abstract

The connection among art, young people, and social inclusion is studied by investigating the links between the learning of circus techniques of young people who attend a social circus located in vulnerable neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and the objectives of inclusion and transformation that these circuses propose. With a qualitative strategy —biographical accounts and participant observations and following the guidelines of the constructivist perspective of grounded theory— the results show that the social circus generates transformative learning experiences produced by the articulation between: ways of building and circulating through training places; recognition links that enable based on trust and respect, with respect to others and to themselves; and integration with objects that envision the bodies/emotions and their capabilities.