{"id":63789,"date":"2021-04-26T18:38:42","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T21:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=63789"},"modified":"2021-04-26T18:38:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T21:38:42","slug":"education-and-technology-in-favelas-tela-preta-tech-holds-first-favela-education-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=63789","title":{"rendered":"Education and Technology in Favelas: Tela Preta Tech Holds First Favela Education Fair"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

This article is <\/em>part of a series<\/a> created in partnership with the\u00a0<\/i>Center for Critical Studies in Language, Education, and Society (NECLES)<\/a>,<\/em> at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), to produce\u00a0articles to be used as teaching resources in public schools\u00a0in the city of Niter\u00f3i, Rio de Janeiro\u2019s sister city across Guanabara Bay.<\/i><\/p>\n

On November 4, 6 and 8, 2020, the First Favela Education Fair<\/a> was held online by the Tela Preta Tech<\/a> (Black Screen Tech) project, focusing on the specific context of education in favelas<\/a>. The event brought together community educators and young residents with one of its goals being<\/a> \u201cto understand that we can and should use technology for development and socioeconomic growth in favelas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Organizer of the event, Tela Preta Tech is a four-woman team<\/a>: Livia Almeida<\/a>, a Civil Engineering undergraduate at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ<\/a>); Natacha Carvalho<\/a>, a Literature undergraduate at UFRJ; Paloma Porfirio<\/a>, a Social Sciences undergraduate at UFRJ; and Renata Siqueira<\/a>, a social scientist and doctoral student in Production Engineering at COPPE\/UFRJ. Tela Preta Tech emerged during 2020 in response to the need for a line of work that would bring together technology and education in peripheral areas, through digital inclusion<\/a> and active empowerment, especially for black women. The Ubuntu_Labe<\/a> program\u2014<\/i>\u201creducing racial inequality in Rio de Janeiro through open innovation in smart cities\u201d\u2014<\/i>served as a meeting point for the founders.<\/span><\/p>\n

The First Favela Education Fair was Tela Preta Tech’s inaugural project<\/a>: \u201cObserving the transformations imposed by the pandemic, we realized the need to drive education and technology from another, unaddressed perspective. That’s how the First Favela Education Fair was born.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Interviewed for this article, Siqueira said that \u201ceducation is the engine for transformation. It develops critical awareness so that people understand themselves as individuals capable of changing their reality and the reality of others.\u201d Porfirio says that, \u201cthe concept of favelas comes from a process of neglect. Education broadens our view and changes this negative perception created about our territory.\u201d Carvalho\u2014in response to the reality that access to education in the peripheries, already limited, was further compromised by the arrival of the pandemic<\/a>, and the technological dependence<\/a> that came with it\u2014reflected that, \u201cthere are ongoing discussions about hybrid education and how education is migrating more and more to technology. But this doesn’t make any sense in favelas, there are no resources.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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On the first day of the event, the theme was \u201cFavela-style Education,\u201d featuring speakers such as grassroots educator and Unifavela<\/a> coordinator, Laerte Breno,<\/a> and Renata Siqueira from Tela Preta Tech.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Who’s thinking about education?” asked Siqueira, opening the event. \u201cEducation is not for black, favela and peripheral students. And that’s a problem, when the majority of the population does not belong to the A and B (economic) classes.\u201d Along these same lines, Breno highlighted the importance of providing education in a contextualized way in order to enhance his students’ abilities. \u201cIt’s not just about introducing content. In order to truly progress, you have to adapt your methodology to the territory<\/a> since many teenagers have to combine work and studies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Breno, the lack of references<\/a> prevents young people from feeling empowered to make their dreams come true. In this context, education needs to be thoughtfully stimulating in order for guidance to be effective. Choosing narratives from the students’ palpable world allows them to identify with their environment. Breno points out the importance of perceiving favelas as a power<\/a>: \u201cFor me, the favela is music, light and ancestry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the first day of the Fair, there was consensus among the educators present that public schools<\/a> are focal points for neighborhoods in a way that goes far beyond education, as they also provide food for students and include them in cultural contexts. All agreed the pandemic interrupted this important local support.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The theme on the second day was \u201cEducation and Technologies,\u201d with speakers Christian Bas\u00edlio, a student in Public Management at UFRJ and co-founder of Ubuntu_Labe, and Gilberto Ramires<\/a>, who currently studies Educational Technologies at the Est\u00e1cio de S\u00e1 University.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bas\u00edlio recalled that there are already several technological examples inside the favela, \u201cIn order to think about technology in favelas, you have to expand your view and the experience with technology beyond social media. We could start this by building an appreciation for what we already have in the favela today. Technology is us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Bas\u00edlio, algorithmic racism<\/a> is a natural feature of Western technology, present in everything from Instagram and its whitening filters, to facial recognition devices<\/a>. \u201cTechnology is shaped in this way because it is a reflection of the white market that creates it, promoting the marginalization of black people\u2026 Although technology can be used as an instrument for social change, it is difficult to have equal opportunities and to meet socio-economic requirements when there are structural racism<\/a> barriers in the way,\u201d said Bas\u00edlio.<\/span><\/p>\n

Porfirio pointed out how we can reverse this process of technological estrangement by adapting computational thinking<\/a>, \u201cTechnology must lead the student to become a creative thinker, to develop through collective work that involves experimenting with new ways of relating with the world\u2026 Encouraging students to be creative is essential to developing their qualities.\u201d According to Porfirio, in order to apply this creative thinking<\/a>, four important elements are needed: self-esteem and initial encouragement; references and access; mutual support and community strength; and, finally, opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ramires pointed out that technology is a set of techniques, implemented in many different forms, exemplifying that “the Marginal Yoga<\/a> project, for example, uses the technology of physical self-care and applies it in the Baixada Fluminense.” Ramires defended the concept of Afrofuturism<\/a> as a way to contemplate the real possibilities of the black population occupying and directing their future through collective power. \u201cTo work with education is to work with responsibility,\u201d he concluded.<\/span><\/p>\n

Siqueira highlighted that when it comes to favela education<\/a>, even if trajectories are individual, successes are collective. Sharing one’s own experiences in order to understand and empathize with others, provides a sense of ancestry and connection that allows us to value not only our own experience, but the experience of the other. “This is what is known as an affection quilombo<\/em><\/a>,” said Siqueira.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On the third day of the Fair, the theme was \u201cFavela and the Future,\u201d with speakers Rosa Diaz<\/a>, who is a social scientist and Project Coordinator of Rio’s Atados<\/a> platform, and Gizelly Vinagre<\/a>, a\u00a0Guadalupe<\/a> resident, qualified flight attendant, undergraduate student in International Relations at UFRJ, and scholarship recipient to pursue a degree in Accounting Sciences at Veiga de Almeida University.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diaz explained how the Atados platform uses technology as a social good, putting future volunteers in contact with organizations. “In times of crisis, creating bonds between people is important to be able to organize and create real change.” Diaz said that during the pandemic, demand has increased 45% compared to previous years, and that there was also a large digital drive for donations<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It is always said that the favela is the periphery, but for me it is the center,” said Siqueira. Along with other educators, she is part of the Bola pra Frente Institute<\/a> in Complexo do Muqui\u00e7o<\/a>, in the North Zone<\/a>. \u201cWe have to put our worldview out there<\/a> so that we can reinvent ourselves by creating our own references\u2026 Muqui\u00e7o in the world, and the world in Muqui\u00e7o,\u201d said Siqueira. The Bola pra Frente Institute is the only “extra” place in the neighborhood where students can have access to sports, educational and cultural activities with an integrated education methodology.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the Bola pra Frente project, we went for a walk through the [Muqui\u00e7o] favela and I found out why the houses follow a specific pattern and the way they look from above\u2026 it has to do with the Deodoro<\/a> railway workers\u2026 actually, my grandfather worked [on the railroad] and I didn’t know,\u201d said one of the Fair’s young participants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Giselly Vinagre, a member of the Bola Pra Frente Institute, declared that despite the many difficulties she underwent in pursuing an education, the institute provided her with enough self-confidence to persist, and enough power to say, \u201cI not only want my life to change, but I want the lives of others to change too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Watch Some of the Talks from the 1st Favela Education Fair Here<\/a>:<\/h3>\n