Quem foi Colombo? A questão étnico-racial nos livros didáticos de história: a descrição do colonizador após as leis 10639/03 e 11645/08

Abstract

The present dissertation aims at contributing to the analysis of processes related to the implementation of Brazilian laws 10639/03 and 11645/08. These two laws regulate affirmative action in Brazil, including how ethnic-racial dimensions are dealt with in secondary school history textbooks. The present work also aims at investigating the developments of the enforcement of these laws concerning history textbooks, above all the use of the concept of colonizer in the explanation of the relationships among different peoples and cultures. How are such relationships described? Are there any changes sanctioned by the PNLD (Brazilian National Textbook Programme, in its original acronym) or by the laws? What cultural and political elements are employed in the description of the parties involved in the occupation of the American territory? To what extent does the colonization process still affect the systematization of the history syllabus? Colonization acts are part of a complex dynamics which is not reflected in the oversimplified hierarchical premises presented by various series of secondary schools history textbooks. The fact that the colonizers are often depicted as conquerors, in an overestimation of the European dimension of the colonization process and consequent underestimation of local culture references represented by pre-Colombian peoples are analyzed from two points of view: (1) as a simplification of the hierarchical relations in the colonization processes, the enduring presence of superficial descriptions of different social actors in the historical periods focused in textbooks and (2) as a strategy to deliberately modify the historical and social dimensions of power relations and influence the development of governmental policies. The present research is based on the analysis of the most used history textbook series in secondary public schools (1st and 3rd years) in the city of Cabo frio, RJ. The research operates in two different axes. First, a historical analysis of the laws 10639/03 and 11645/08. Secondly, an investigation of the meanings assigned to the colonizer and an attempt to establish which narrations might be classified as a colonization of the historical knowledge presented by textbooks. Such debate about the colonizer may contribute to the critical reflection upon the institutionalization of historical knowledge and the process of national regulation of its syllabus (PNLDs), shedding light on the struggle among different political actors and their attempt to influence governmental policies, including affirmative action.