Discutindo o racismo na escola : as percepções de professoras e estudantes sobre as relações raciais entre crianças brancas e crianças negras de cabelo crespo

Abstract

The school is responsible for transmitting and shaping fundamental knowledge for the social and cultural formation of individuals. Therefore, it is crucial that an anti-racist education be incorporated into the curriculum and pedagogical practices, fostering the appreciation of ethno- racial diversity. In this field study, our general objective was to analyze the perceptions of teachers and students regarding racial relations between white children and Black children with curly hair at E.M.E.B. Maria Elazir Correa de Figueiredo, part of the Cuiabá-MT public school system. The specific objectives were: to investigate whether and how the school and teachers promote Ethnic-Racial Relations Education within the research institution; to analyze how teachers perceive and mediate racial relations between white children and Black children; and to understand how Black children with curly hair perceive the relationships established between them and their white peers in the school environment.The study was conducted through a qualitative approach, and as data collection techniques, we used semi-structured interviews to understand the participants' perceptions of racial relations established in the classroom. The interviews were conducted with two teachers—one white and one Black—and five Black girls, students in the 3rd year of elementary school. The data collected through the semi-structured interviews were interpreted and analyzed using content analysis. Our interpretations and analyses were theoretically based on Munanga (1999), Skidmore (1976), Nogueira (1998), Almeida (2019), Brasil (2004), Costa (2011), Gomes (2002), Cavalleiro (2005), among other important authors.The results indicate that, even after 20 years of Law 10.639/03, which mandates the inclusion of Afro-Brazilian and African History and Culture in basic education institutions, its implementation in school curricula continues to be neglected, except on commemorative dates. Teachers still struggle to work on ethnic-racial relations education due to a lack of initial and continuing training. Children who experience racism at school continue to feel afraid and ashamed to speak up due to the absence of educational approaches in these spaces, which still ignore racist practices carried out by other children.