Objective: To develop a theoretical structure on literacy practices committed to health empowerment, based on the understanding of school adolescents and members of a Quilombola community in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil.
Method: Interpretative analysis, based on the assumptions of the Grounded Theory and Symbolic Interactionism. For data collection, Culture Circles were conducted with 18 adolescents from October 2020 to August 2021.
Results: The theoretical archetype is structured based on the recognition of vulnerable youth context, and the development of potential through collective relations built by dialogue, trust, shared knowledge construction, and the use of technologies.
Final considerations: The theoretical structure on literacy practices committed to empowerment through the understanding of adolescents runs through the framework of a substantive theory that culminates in a perspective of agency and recognition of their needs.