The Influence of European Racial Theories on the Formation of the Brazilian Historiographic Matrix and History Teaching

Abstract

This article is part of the PhD research developed in the Post-Graduate Program in History (Federal University of Goiás) entitled "Intercultural historical learning from the knowledge conveyed in indigenous and non-indigenous educational contexts". Its aim is to present a critique of the Brazilian historiographic matrix, highlighting the influences of European racial theories during its formation process and to analyze the incidences of this matrix on the historical conceptions of the students from Dona Gercina Borges School, located in the Brazilian city of Formoso do Araguaia, in the state of Tocantins, which borders several indigenous villages of Javaé people. The theoretical methodological framework is linked, above all, to the studies and discussions developed by the modernity/coloniality/decoloniality movement, the historical perspectives of two great indigenous leaders, Gersem Baniwa and Daniel Munduruku, and the positioning of the students themselves heard in the research.

Keywords

• Brazilian historiography
• racial theories
• colonialism and history teaching.