Indigenous school education as contested spaces: The Brazilian experience in São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul (original) (raw)
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Exploring the new challenges for indigenous education in Brazil: Some lessons from Ticuna schools
Brazil appears to have one of the most advanced legislations on native Indians in the world. This was not always the case. During the colonial period (c. 1530–1825), indigenous communities were decimated by disease or massacred by white settlers. In the 20th century, the Brazilian government introduced integrationist policies, which aimed to locate native populations and integrate them into mainstream society. These integrationist policies were implemented through education and the opening of new agricultural frontiers. However, in the last quarter of the 20th century, these integrationist policies were replaced by an approach valuing diversity and the right to a differentiated educational system, for indigenous communities to choose at their own discretion. Based on recent census data, this article begins with a discussion of the current situation of indigenous education in Brazil. Next, the authors focus on the Ticuna people, a group with considerable experience in indigenous education who have managed to maintain much of their cultural heritage and opted for a differentiated educational system. Finally, the authors examine some current challenges and propose a way forward for indigenous schools in Brazil.
Indigenous School Education in Brazil
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, 2018
preservation of traditions, and negotiation of customs facing national cultures are central themes in the debate about and among indigenous peoples in the world. School education is directly linked to such themes as an instrument of acculturation or self-determination and emancipation. As in other countries of the globe, throughout history, what happened and is happening in Brazil is not isolated fact. Current conditions are the product of colonization processes, the development of industrial society, and more recently of globalization. Such historical processes bring struggles, confrontations, transformations, and solidarity. In the legal sphere, international conventions, declarations, and treaties have influenced more or less directly the norms and laws on the subject: from the papal bull and treaties between colonizing kingdoms, to the Declaration of Human Rights, to Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization, the Brazilian indigenous issue, like that of many other countries, is also based on, supported by, or held back by actions, debates, and international interests. But what makes the case of Brazil worthy of relevance for thinking about indigenous education? Two elements make up an answer: the specific way the governors establish relations with the original peoples, and the fact that Brazil has the greatest diversity of indigenous communities.
Self-determination of the original peoples of any nation, preservation of their territories, preservation of traditions, and negotiation of customs facing national cultures are central themes in the debate about and among indigenous peoples in the world. School education is directly linked to such themes as an instrument of acculturation or self-determination and emancipation. As in other countries of the globe, throughout history, what happened and is happening in Brazil is not isolated fact. Current conditions are the product of colonization processes, the development of industrial society, and more recently of globalization. Such historical processes bring struggles, confrontations, transformations, and solidarity. In the legal sphere, international conventions, declarations, and treaties have influenced more or less directly the norms and laws on the subject: from the papal bull and treaties between colonizing kingdoms, to the Declaration of Human Rights, to Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization, the Brazilian indigenous issue, like that of many other countries, is also based on, supported by, or held back by actions, debates, and international interests. But what makes the case of Brazil worthy of relevance for thinking about indigenous education? Two elements make up an answer: the specific way the governors establish relations with the original peoples, and the fact that Brazil has the greatest diversity of indigenous communities.
Creative Education, 2015
The condition of social exclusion is a feature among Brazilian indigenous communities. However, the consolidation of indigenous organizations and the provision of specific public policies, including those related to indigenous school education, has contributed to the emergence of ethnic indigenous collective in Brazil. Analyzing this social process in the State of Santa Catarina (Brazil), as well as their relation with the development of indigenous school education in South Brazil is the objective of this article.
THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT OF INDIGENOUS TEACHERS FOR EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF MATO GROSSO DO SUL, BRAZIL
This article analyses the historical trajectory of the indigenous teachers' movement in the Mato Grosso do Sul state and the relationship with the indigenous movement in Brazil. The reflections result from the documentary analysis of the history of the indigenous movement, as well as participation in the indigenous assemblies: Terra Livre Camp, Aty Guasu, Terena Assembly and Indigenous School Education Forum. The rationale is the dialogue with the protagonists of Indigenous Education in the scope of the training of indigenous teachers. Objective: to clarify the relationship of continuity and alliances between the indigenous movement and the indigenous teacher's movement, identifying lines of action and goals of the indigenous movement. The theoretical and methodological foundation is constituted in the historical and documental research analysed in the multidisciplinary perspective of the human sciences, in addition to interviews with indigenous leaders, recorded in a field notebook. As a result of the research, the connection between the indigenous movement and the indigenous teacher's movement is highlighted, as well as the inseparability between the fundamental right to land and water, without which health and education are not possible.
Choice of Knowledge in Indigenous Schools: Two Guarani Cases (São Paulo, Brazil)
Cadernos de Pesquisa, 2022
What social processes determine the choice of the knowledge that circulates in indigenous schools? This question may shed light on the modalities of power that contribute to forging collective meanings of education in local communities. The article presents research aimed to answer this question. We made direct observation of two schools in Guarani territories in SP and conducted interviews and informal conversations with their teachers and leaders. The results describe the influence of governmental conduct, teaching conceptions, and community preferences on the conformation of school work. The performance of indigenous teachers stands out, who produce circumscribed practices of autonomy that, in the small-scale perspective of the logic of educational innovation, overcome the colonialist norm which historically shaped schools for indigenous people.
Multilingualism and Indigenous School Education in Brazil: past, present and future challenges
Multilingual Margins 2022, 2022
In Brazil, only with the Federal Constitution of 1988 is indigenous peoples guaranteed the right to use their languages and cultures. However, since colonization, many languages have disappeared. The number of speakers of these languages has decreased,and different stages and language policies have promoted the Portuguese language atthe expense of indigenous languages. All these factors to different sociolinguisticsituations, current challenges in language teaching and learning, as scenarios of monolingualism in an indigenous language, continuum bilingualism, and non-speaking communities of an indigenous language. However, with revitalization, actions occur in the Brazilian context. We resorted to assumptions derived from studies on multilingualism, language policy, and language pedagogies. Based on these assumptions, this article aims to reflect on the moments and movements of indigenous school education and language policies in Brazil’s multilingual and multicultural country. This study is qualitative interpretive research based on a literature review in an integrative approach of theoretical perspectives concerned with the topic.
SPECIFIC AND DIFFERENTIATED INDIGENOUS HIGHER EDUCATION IN BRAZIL: THE FOUNDATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND INITIAL RESULTS (Atena Editora), 2021
Emphasizes the initial phase of the Indigenous Higher Education (ESI) at the State University of Mato Grosso (UNEMAT) serving indigenous claims. The data are bibliographies, institutional documents and memory of actors and witnesses to the events. The ESI in Brazil was nonspecific. The 1999 census indicated almost half a million Indians (350-500 thousand), about two hundred people (≥219 ) and spoken languages (> 180 ).There were many students (93037) in 1392 schools, and ¾ native teachers (65% men) and a few with higher education (1.6 %). Laws and the Indians pressed the state to offer ESI. A UNEMAT pioneered in Brazil to implement a specific, differentiated, intercultural and bilingual program of ESI. The proposal began to be written by a committee in 1997. The project was presented to UNEMAT and assumed in 23sep1999 and deployed rapidly (< 2years), through partnership with the Federal (Brazil), state (Mato Grosso-MT) and municipal (Barra do Bugres-BB) governments and cooperation of professors from various universities. In 09Jul2001 there was the inaugural class in Campus BB-UNEMAT, to 3 Specific and differentiated BSc courses to Training Indigenous Teachers in Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Social Science, Languages Art and Literature. The first group benefited 180 MT-indigenous and 20 other states, contemplating 37 ethnicities. Of these, 186 Graduated (93%) Licensees on 06jun2006.
“Opening to the Other”: Schooling among the Karipuna and Mebengokré-Xikrin of Brazil
Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 2009
The article analyzes the Brazilian Indigenous formal educational policies through two ethnographic cases (Karipuna and Mebengokré-Xikrin) that allow us to approach the Indigenous perspective on schooling. We first discuss the possibilities and limitations of past and current legal references and educational policies. In the analysis of the two experiences, we use the notions of cultural boundary and the “openness to the other” to understand the dialogical and interactional spaces that emerge through Indigenous schooling. [Indigenous schooling, Mebengokré-Xikrin, Karipuna, Indigenous protagonism, cultural boundaries, openness to the other]