Searching for an African historical initiative: possibilities and limitations of the pedagogical practices in basic education

Abstract

This paper presents a series of activities carried in sixth-grade Portuguese classes, aimed to facilitate epistemological ruptures in the children’s understanding of the African culture, aesthetics, and history. To do so, the study uses as analytical references the children’s productions, a theoretical review in the field of teaching practices, and the legal milestones that underpin the ethnic-racial relations education in Brazil. The (still ongoing) curricular amendments, required through the passing of a set laws, resolutions, and guidelines that promote the teaching of African and Afro-Brazilian history and culture in the Brazilian education system, have been brought up amidst tensions, negotiations and often epistemic ruptures. The strong trend towards Eurocentric pedagogical content and practices are gathered, influenced by a power pattern that emerged out of modern colonialism, the coloniality. Furthermore, the practices herein uncover the fact that there are still too many limitations when compared to the power of coloniality. Therefore, the school faces the challenge of imagining new pedagogical outcomes to subvert the aforementioned coloniality and push towards the development an education grounded on the acknowledgment that the African and Afro-Brazilian intellectual, political, cultural and social production is fundamental to the education of the Brazilian population.