Body that Gestates, Writing that Blossoms:

Motherhood and Free Play in Nature

Abstract

This article discusses the intersections between motherhood, scientific production, and academic permanence based on the experience of a graduate student mother during the development of a Master's dissertation in Education. Linked to a research project on free play in natural spaces at a public daycare center in Maracás, Bahia, the study seeks to understand how pregnancy influences ways of researching, writing, and remaining at the university. Methodologically, the investigation combines ethnography and autoethnography within a qualitative approach, using participant observation, field notes, and records of lived experiences during pregnancy. The analyses show that free play in nature enhances children’s experiences of creation, imagination, and belonging. At the same time, they reveal that motherhood challenges the productivist logic of the university, exposing difficulties related to the permanence of mother-students in graduate education. The study concludes that producing knowledge during pregnancy broadens sensitive, embodied, and situated ways of understanding academic research.