Interculturalidade e currículo da educação escolar indígena: realidades, desafios e perspectivas dos povos multiétnicos na cidade de Manaus, Amazonas (Brasil)

Abstract

Curriculum proposals aimed at Indigenous School Education (EEI) in the city of Manaus (Amazonas, Brazil) are currently under construction. The main demand of the multiethnic peoples occupying the urban area of the municipality is the fulfillment of legislation that, in addition to guaranteeing specific and differentiated Indigenous School Education, also ensures an education that reflects traditional knowledge, as well as the worldview and cosmo-feeling of their ancient culture. This research sought to investigate what actions the Municipal Secretariat of Education (SEMED) has developed to guarantee specific and differentiated education for the multiethnic peoples living in the urban center of Manaus. Our general objective is to analyze how the curriculum proposals for Early Childhood Education (EEI) are consolidated in the state of Amazonas, within the scope of the Municipal Education Secretariat of Manaus (SEMED), in light of current policies in the area. Our specific objectives are: to identify the most relevant themes related to the EEI curriculum, from the perspective of educators working in the field; and to systematize the content of traditional knowledge based on the protagonism of indigenous peoples. To meet the research objectives, we adopted ethnography as our methodological approach. The bibliographic research elucidated the concepts of multiculturalism and interculturality, and their ideological and social implications in the construction of public policies aimed at the education of indigenous peoples. The field research employed participant observation. The research subjects are indigenous teachers from the Space for Studies of the Mother Tongue and Traditional Indigenous Knowledge (EELMCTI) Uka Umbuessara Wakenai Anumarehit, and non-indigenous teachers from the Santa Rosa II Municipal School (SEMED), both located in the Parque das Tribos neighborhood. The sample of traditional indigenous knowledge results from observations made with the Karapãna people, located in the Tarumã-Açu neighborhood. Data was collected through an online Google Forms questionnaire, interviews, records of direct observations, and group discussions. The data analysis, taking into account the diverse worldviews of the teachers regarding the construction of a curriculum proposal, presented a dialogical intercultural perspective. The dialogues presented throughout the research highlight an intercultural conception of knowledge among the peoples. As a contribution of the research, a book of ancestral narratives was created, featuring the narrative of each indigenous people, telling their stories. Initially, the ancestral history is that of the Karapãna people; later, the intention is to expand it with ancestral narratives from other peoples. From this investigation, we point to an educational proposal based on intercultural dialogue, which takes into account traditional indigenous knowledge, envisioning possibilities for the construction of an intercultural curriculum.