Africa: teacher records effect of classes – 02/08/2023 – Education

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While teaching the history and culture of Africa to the 5th grade of elementary school at Colégio Frederico Ozanam, in Belo Horizonte, history teacher and writer Lavínia Rocha, 25, asked her students a question.

“What things do you think of when I say Africa?” he asked. “Enslaved people”, “thin people”, “poverty” and “sick people”, said the students.

The answers, according to her, expose stereotypes regarding the continent reproduced by Brazilians, even 20 years after the obligatory study of Afro-Brazilian history and culture in the country’s schools.

The teacher reports that she repeated the question after the students went through classes about the continent and carried out guided research work for a week. The total number of responses more than tripled and so did their quality.

The difference was recorded in a frame proudly photographed by Lavinia and shared in a video that went viral on social media. One of the students even commented: “Teacher, do you remember the painting we did? There was only a ‘tantin’ (sic) of something. Look how much there is now”.

Graduated from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Lavínia teaches in Belo Horizonte. She points out the importance of discussions like this in the school environment, but says that the effort is still very concentrated in the hands of teachers.

“In Brazil, we rarely talk about race. As a history teacher, I understand that we need to talk about it all the time. The guidelines of the BNCC (Base Nacional Comum Curricular) give me support to dialogue about the legacy of slavery in Brazil, so I can talk about race. But a lot of what I take to the classroom comes from what I study”, he says.

She says that, at UFMG, the discipline of African history lasts one semester. Others, such as the history of Europe, the Americas or Brazil, have more modules and are studied over two or four semesters.

“There are two professors, one to teach pre-colonial Africa and the other post-colonial. You have to choose between one and the other. I studied post-colonial Africa and ran out of pre-colonial content. There’s no way, in one semester , give the whole history of Africa.”

Luiz Arnaut, professor and former coordinator of the History course at UFMG, confirms that the course on the history of Africa lasts one semester, but says that there is no pre- and post-colonial division. “Due to the teaching autonomy, the teacher can adapt the content in a way that is relevant or interesting as a discussion”, he says.

He also adds that UFMG offers cross-curricular training, which are complementary to graduation and allow further studies around major themes, involving different fields of knowledge in a more critical perspective. Among them, there is the course “Ethnic-Racial Relations, African History and Afro-Brazilian Culture”, which can be attended by students.

There is a recent discussion about the emphasis that courses have always given to European history, points out Arnaut. According to the professor, the movement to reformulate teaching comes slowly and walks with the expansion of studies on Africa.

“Not every discipline allows you to cover all the content, not even those from Brazil. The idea of ​​a university discipline is not to exhaust the subjects”, he defends.

In this context, teachers report difficulties in implementing the 2003 law that determines that teaching about Afro-Brazilian History and Culture must be done in primary and secondary education, official and private.

“The law exists, but we don’t have as much support from the institutions to be able to adapt to it”, says Lavínia.

TEACHING ABOUT AFRICA IN SCHOOLS

Chronology: the law was enacted in 2003, aimed at basic education. It was supplemented in 2008 to extend the practice to secondary education and include indigenous peoples and cultures in the list of mandatory contents.

What does the law say: Is required the teaching of Afro-Brazilian History and Culture in primary and secondary education establishments, official and private.

• What must be taught: history of Africa and Africans, the struggle of blacks in Brazil, Brazilian black culture and the black in the formation of national society, rescuing the contribution of black people in the social, economic and political areas of Brazilian history.
• In which subjects? Throughout the school curriculum, especially in the areas of Arts Education, Literature and History.

The reporter from Sheet Lucas Lacerda spoke to specialists about the law, who pointed out obstacles in its application:

• Oversight: bodies that manage the education policy and those that should guarantee its application have been silent.
• Teacher training: teaching is generally in charge of professors linked to ethnic-racial studies or associated with organizations of the black movement.
• Courseware: there is a lack of materials that deepen the theme.

For educators who want to delve into teaching about race, culture and African history, Lavinia points to two sources of information: