A escola pública tem cor? Um estudo étnico-racial de instituições escolares no intuito de apreender as Representações Sociais dos atores educativos no cotidiano - Paço do Lumiar/MA

Abstract

The research under consideration addresses contemporary societal issues, including the dynamics of ethnic-racial issues and the challenges that shape our world. Its objective is therefore to conduct an ethnic-racial study, from the perspective of racial color, in municipal public schools. The question that gives rise to this study is: Do public schools have color? Its general aim is to analyze the social representations of teachers and eighth-grade students in public schools in the municipality of Paço do Lumiar, Maranhão, from the perspective of racial color, immersed in an ethnic-racial study in the daily life of school institutions. It posits the hypothesis that the constitution of social representations of teachers and students, from the perspective of racial color, reveals potential ambiguities. These ambiguities may be replicated at times, while at other times, they demonstrate evidence of significant changes in perspective based on anti racist approaches as a reference point for students and teachers. The premise of this study is that the concept of racial color is no longer seen as a physical-biological category in contemporary contexts, but rather as a category that denotes social inequalities and structural racism. This is due to the fact that the definition of the racial color of students and teachers in public schools in the municipality of Paço do Lumiar can be a social, cultural, economic, and political construct. The Thesis is based on the researcher's experiences as a black woman in a society marked by racism and patriarchy and as a Portuguese language teacher in the schools analyzed. The research covers two public schools in the metropolitan region of São Luís Island, specifically in the municipality of Paço do Lumiar, one in a rural area and the other in an urban area. Regarding the theoretical basis, some authors studied on racial color are listed, with the question of this Thesis understood as an indication, symbol, and stigma for changes in society or the continuation of racist acts: Fanon (2020, 2022), Gomes (2003), Santos (2018, 2021a); on school as a unit of diverse, sometimes contradictory processes and relationships built on everyday experiences: Freire (2006, 2023), Nóvoa (2022), Hooks (2017); on everyday life that changes according to historical changes: Heller (2014), Pais (2003); and on the Theory of Social Representations (TSR): Moscovici (1961; 2019), Jodelet (1993, 2017), Arruda (2021), Bonfim (2007), considering that the analysis of the apprehension of social representations of educational actors in the daily life of the schools surveyed constitutes the fulcrum of this investigation. We adopt the sociogenetic approach of Social Representation Theory (SRT), developed by Serge Moscovici and followed by Denise Jodelet, as it emphasizes the importance of the processes of construction and transformation of representations, focusing on the dynamics of social knowledge and the changes that occur in the relationships between individuals and the object of representation. This is a qualitative research study, with the aim of analyzing the information collected from the subjects, considering ethics, respect, and dignity for people and their knowledge. The collection instruments chosen were semi-structured interviews with teachers and focus group interviews with students, in addition to a Profile Questionnaire to better understand the research subjects and their contexts. The information was systematized using the Content Analysis technique proposed by Bardin (2011) and Franco (2005). The Thesis has six sections, including the Introduction. The results indicate that public schools are multiracial, however, brown skin color is more prevalent among teachers and their students, as evidenced by birth certificates or family phenotypic traits. There is also a certain ambiguity regarding racial color in the self-declarations of the subjects surveyed, since their responses are contradictory in some cases. It is believed that this is due to their social representations, possibly anchored in miscegenation, a phenomenon that marked colonialism in this country, and objectified in the need to visualize racial color by comparing it with other research subjects.