ISSN: 2966-0599

v.1, n.6, 2024 (Outubro)

METADADOS

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13916695                   

Author-1: Priscilla Patrício de Holanda

Biography: Mestra em Educação – Universidade Federal de Catalão

E-mail: priscyholanda@gmail.com

Author-2: Keila Belchor da Silva Ferreira

Biography: Mestranda em Educação – Universidade Federal de Catalão

E-mail: keila-belchor@hotmail.com

Author-3: Eliete Maria Bueno da Cunha

Biography: Mestranda em Educação – Universidade Federal de Catalão

E-mail: elietembueno@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: In the last two decades there has been a significant and growing interest from researchers and scholars around the relationship between education and racial issues in Brazil. It is a field of knowledge production that is present in all types of education. Collaborating with the production on ethnic-racial relations, some scholars such as Elaine Cavalleiro (2010); Kabengele Munanga (2001); Nilma Gomes (2011), has led us to reflect on racism in the school world. Encouraging us to search for educational practices that deconstruct rigid and exclusionary paradigms, and promote a distinct education for equality.  In Brazil, prejudice towards black people has its own characteristics, it occurs mainly taking into account physical traits, such as hair, skin color, shape of the mouth and nose, defined by Oracy Nogueira as “brand prejudice”.  Unlike what happens in the United States, where prejudice is determined specifically by descent and origin (NOGUEIRA, 1998). We have a country made up of a diversity of ethnic-racial groups, plural in their beliefs and customs. As it is a socially, economically and politically underdeveloped country, it presents serious problems related to education.  The precarious social conditions of this most needy and vulnerable population, which is mostly made up of black people, have been confirmed in the learning process, reflected in the difficulties in accessibility to school, low training rates, high school dropout rates, and poor structural conditions. and organizational aspects and in the various forms of discrimination inside and outside the school (CAVALLEIRO, 2001).  At the school level, the issue of education for ethnic-racial relations is complex, mostly neglected, or left in the background. Many teachers and school staff in general are not prepared to deal with situations of racism and social exclusion. These are questions that generate discomfort and tension. Given this, many teachers choose to remain silent when faced with situations of racism, there are still those who deny the existence of racism at school, which worsens and perpetuates such situations (SILVA, 1997). In childhood, discriminatory acts can leave incurable consequences. An important step in the search for anti-racist education is to recognize the existence of these attitudes at school and seek to intervene in a pedagogical way. Silence on the part of the teacher can demonstrate connivance, generating low self-esteem and anger in those who suffered the racist action. Therefore, teachers, coordinators and directors need to be aware of the seriousness of this problem, which can have a negative impact on the student’s life.  In this sense, we think of children’s literature as an alternative pedagogical instrument for deconstructing stereotypes and confronting black children, since literary texts have proven to be a powerful source of culture and knowledge, at the same time that if worked effectively, they can also be pleasure and fun. In this sense, we think of children’s literature as an alternative pedagogical instrument for deconstructing stereotypes and confronting black children, since literary texts have proven to be a powerful source of culture and knowledge, at the same time that if worked effectively, they can also be pleasure and fun.  This study aims to analyze and discuss the relevance of children’s literature in the child’s identity process, in their production of meanings, with regard to literary productions focused on ethnic-racial relations. We are interested in understanding how the study of African and Afro-Brazilian culture with preschool students, through reading practices and storytelling, contributes to the formation of black students’ self-esteem, promoting the construction of racial competence.   Among the Afro-Brazilian works aimed at children, the following were selected: ‘Bruna e a hen d’angola’ by Gercilga de Almeida (2011); ‘Each one with their own way, each way is different’ by Lucimar Rosa (2012); ‘Obax’ by André Neves (2010); ‘Pretty girl with a ribbon bow’ by Ana Maria Machado (2005); ‘Menino Nito’ by Sônia Rosa (2006); ‘My mother is black, yes!’ by Patrícia Santana (2008), ‘So much’ by ​​Trish Cooke (1997).

Keywords: Black children; literature; antiracism.