FROM MARGINALITY TO AGENCY THROUGH ZOOANTROPEDAGOGY: A COMMUNITY CARE EXPERIENCE BRIDGING SIMULATION AND NARRATIVE MEDICINE WITH DISADVANTAGED MINORS IN SOUTHERN SALENTO

Abstract

Geopolitical permacrises and systemic delays in welfare access exacerbate educational poverty, with adverse consequences for individuals’ physical and mental well-being. This paper argues that when fostered by community-based Participatory Co-Design, research interventions like equine-assisted learning, augmented with narrative medicine and high-fidelity simulation practices, can operationalize a person-centred pedagogy of care, capable of decelerating such self-reinforcing vicious cycles and attenuate health and social inequalities.