Historicity, Alterity and Diversity

The Challenges of Teaching Indigenous History and Culture in Schools

Abstract

This paper reflects on some of the impacts, issues, changes and continuities in the teaching and learning of the history and indigenous culture in the school context of basic education which arise from the execution of the Law 11.645/2008. The analyses focused on the knowledge of high school students from three state schools in the city of Dourados (Mato Grosso do Sul - MS), who participated in the edition of PIBID História (2018-2019), from the Federal University of Grande Dourados (UFGD). This data was gathered and systematized through the application of questionnaires, which made up the initial phase of activities at the schools, called 'surveying’. Stereotypes about indigenous peoples such as essentialist notions of culture, which deny ethnic alterities and sociodiversities, are still major challenges to be overcome. The solidification of the dialogue between academic production and school production, that is, an approximation and articulation between university and school, presents itself as a favorable path for the historical debate, which must be converted into a tool that allows the overcoming of myths and stereotypes, especially those referring to indigenous peoples in Brazil. Thus it is about overcoming culturalist visions, based on a predominantly Eurocentric and conservative perspective (whose notions are responsible for manufacturing intolerances and violence) and understanding historicities and recognizing and respecting diversities.