EDUCACIÓN DEL CUERPO Y ALIMENTACIÓN EN LA PRIMERA INFANCIA. OBSERVACIONES EN INSTITUCIONES EDUCATIVAS EN EL DEPARTAMENTO DE MALDONADO, URUGUAY

Food in educational institutions for early childhood currently takes on different meanings. Based on observations made, an analysis of feeding practices is outlined that allows us to problematize the education of the body as well as the centrality that it acquires for what we know today as “early childhood.” In this way, it became necessary to reconstruct certain conditions of possibility regarding education, care and feeding in early childhood in Uruguay, to then outline a certain distinction between two traditions: one that focuses on socioeconomic vulnerability in its relationship with early childhood and the family, where food is related to a concern that is mainly oriented towards guaranteeing food security; and another that is oriented towards the expansion and redistribution of early childhood care where the arms of the state seek to extend beyond nutritional risk. The unit of analysis for the work was: a CAIF (early childhood care center) and a full-time public kindergarten (Council of Initial and Primary Education, National Public Education Administration). The observations made in these institutions during feeding practices allowed us to recognize the tensions inherent in body education in educational institutions. Food is understood within these institutions as a social benefit, allowing us to reflect on the neoliberal advance in body education as well as the political resistance that arises from it.