O afropioneirismo de mulheres na educação superior em São Luis do Maranhão

Abstract

This dissertation aims to investigate the pioneering spirit of Afro-descendant teachers in the early years of Higher Education in São Luís - Ma. Initially, the analysis focused on the educational trajectory of Afro-descendant women in higher education, presenting specificities such as facing prejudice and discrimination. Subsequently, we sought to recognize the presence of Afro-descendant women as teachers in the first years of higher education in São Luís, using information from written sources, such as newspapers, bills and reports from the National Information Service, preparing an account of their teaching careers. The analysis was based on main categories, namely: gender relations, racial relations and higher education, dialoguing with the theoretical field of subaltern, decolonial and black feminist studies. The methodology was based on a bibliographical and documental survey, with a theoretical contribution to Afro descendant women, based on studies carried out by Afro-descendant women and with methodological objectivity derived from Social History. The focus of this investigation is centered on the late entry of Afro-descendant women into higher education teaching in Maranhão. Impact on the access of Afro-descendant teachers to higher education institutions in Maranhão. That said, it is observed that higher education in São Luís began, in a systematic way, in the 1918s and, only in the 1960s, is there a record of the first African-descendant teacher teaching in higher education. The analysis of the presence of Afro-descendant women as teachers, in the first years of higher education in São Luís, revealed the scarcity of information about their teaching trajectory and their Afro-pioneering spirit. Since they used education as a weapon to face prejudice, racial and gender discrimination, reaching the space of higher education as teachers. Therefore, this study proposes to broaden the views on the afro-descendant teacher, adding to the educational debate, information about this invisible person.