Indigenous literature in youth and adult education: reflections on teaching practices for an antiracist education

Abstract

This study analyses a systematized teaching practice in the pedagogical project Indigenous literature: poetizing and emphasizing multiple types of knowledge in EJA (Youth and Adult Education), which, on the one hand, aimed at promoting the teaching of the textual genre poem and, on the other hand, fomented antiracist education in an interdisciplinary way by means of reading circles of poems written by indigenous authors. The practice was applied in EJA to two Cycle VI (3rd year of high school) classes of a state public school in João Pessoa, PB. Accordingly, this paper seeks to reflect on that experience by discussing in class the humanizing function and potential of literature as a way of adding value and visibility to the history and culture of indigenous peoples, as established by Law nº 11.645/2008. To that end, we resorted to bibliographic review, considering literature studies in dialogue with antiracist education. The theoretical-methodological contribution is based on studies by several authors. Furthermore, guiding educational documents were revisited, such as the EJA’s Guia de orientações gerais (General Guidelines Guide), Base Nacional Comum Curricular (Common National Curriculum Base) and the aforementioned federal law. The results pointed out that, despite the specific obstacles of the EJA context and the particularities of its target audience, the practice was carried out successfully. Foremost, the adequate teacher training when working with indigenous literature stands out, thus contributing to the teaching-learning process of students as well as to weaving antiracist education.