Making Subalternity: The Lunch Ladies in the Documents and Initiatives of the Federal Administration of the Pnae

Abstract

This paper deals with the lunch lady (Merendeira), a professional responsible for preparing school meals in Brazilian public schools and who plays a key role in achieving the goals of the National School Meals Program (PNAE), such as contributing to the biopsychosocial growth and development, learning, school performance and the formation of healthy eating habits for students. Despite the lunch lady’s importance for the Program, the educational potential of this professional is often invisible and unrecognized in the school environment. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate what are the documents and initiatives developed by the federal management of PNAE that involve the lunch lady and if they can contribute to the (de)valorization of her profession and her maintenance as a subject that does not participate in the school environment’s decisions, reinforcing her subaltern position. The document analysis allowed us to verify that PNAE has a legal framework to strengthen and enhance the roles of the lunch ladies, especially concerning the role of educator. However, the results of this analysis suggest that the actions are focused on the scope of registration in the official discourse more than on representation/representation, which can contribute to the lunch lady’s social discredit and the consolidation of their role as a subordinate subject.