{"id":69101,"date":"2022-02-25T08:36:47","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T11:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=69101"},"modified":"2022-02-27T01:14:46","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T04:14:46","slug":"i-want-to-read-black-authors-when-will-we-see-proper-representation-in-brazilian-schools-and-universities-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=69101","title":{"rendered":"I Want To Read Black Authors: When Will We See Proper Representation in Brazilian Schools and Universities? [OPINION]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/em>This is our latest article in<\/em>\u00a0a\u00a0series<\/a>\u00a0created in partnership with the\u00a0Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies<\/a>\u00a0at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the\u00a0Digital Brazil Project<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0<\/em>climate impacts and affirmative action in the favelas for RioOnWatch. It is also the latest contribution to our award-winning<\/a> reporting project, Rooting Anti-Racism in the Favelas: Deconstructing Social Narratives About Racism in Rio de Janeiro<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Epistemic Whiteness and Representation<\/h3>\n
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\"\"<\/a>
Luciane de Oliveira Rocha, 42, a professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Kennesaw State University.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, I had zero contact with black literature and black social science productions through the curriculum. I was unable to see myself in the teaching staff or in the curriculum.\u201d \u2014 Luciane de Oliveira Rocha<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Statements such as these by Brazilian professor Luciane de Oliveira Rocha, 42, ring true for many of us. Currently a professor at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Kennesaw State University<\/a>\u00a0in Georgia, Rocha asks: \u201cWhere are black authors?\u201d This line of questioning, that begins first at school and later in academic life, has become a collective and political act.<\/p>\n

The absence of black references in Brazilian education is also noticed in the curricula of university education programs<\/a>, and is subsequently reproduced in classrooms by those who learned to help others learn. In education, then, colonial viewpoints are perpetuated through a Eurocentric, sexist, classist model, which prioritizes white male authors and theorists, followed by white women. Rocha reminds us that: \u201cThe classics are all by white authors. They have high visibility in the social sciences. Classic productions such as those by L\u00e9lia Gonzalez<\/a>\u2014an anthropologist who is critical in understanding Brazilian racial formation\u2014were never presented to me during the four years of my social science course.\u201d<\/p>\n

The theoretical and literary foundations of black authorship have been neglected<\/a> in Brazil. This opinion is shared by professor Val\u00e9ria Louren\u00e7o, 39, who said that, while reading and studying his work in school, she was never made aware that Machado de Assis was black<\/a>. Educational institutions are typically intellectually negligent in recognizing black people, which interferes with programs and processes for teaching and learning.<\/p>\n

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L\u00e9lia Gonzalez in an undated image \u2014 according to Ana Maria Felippe, a friend of Gonzalez’s, this was one of the author’s favorite photos.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Val\u00e9ria Louren\u00e7o, 39, Professor of Modern Languages at the Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Cear\u00e1, Crate\u00fas Campus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI went to a public school in Xer\u00e9m, one of the best state schools in the region. I had black teachers, both men and women, but never heard of Lima Barreto<\/a>, Concei\u00e7\u00e3o Evaristo, Carolina Maria de Jesus<\/a>, or Luiz Gama<\/a>, for example. They didn\u2019t tell me that Machado de Assis, who we were assigned to read, was black.\u201d \u2014 Val\u00e9ria Louren\u00e7o<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Universities are political spaces. All participants\u2014teachers, students, and staff\u2014play a political role. For this reason, it\u2019s always important to question school curricula that fail to include contributions from black authors, both male and female. Professors Ana Helena Passos and Claudia Miranda tell us that on this educational path towards transformation, it is essential to remain aware of the role of the agents of change, of the degree of political awareness of the institution’s educational processes, as well as their transformative potential for students, their families, and society as a whole.<\/p>\n

We must forge a path<\/a> ahead that not only includes these works and their authors, but also allows for a more plural training of these agents of education<\/a>. We must analyze how they are receiving and applying this material in their classrooms<\/a>. It\u2019s essential that we create teaching practices that are able to break with this pattern of invisibility of black men and women writers and literary theorists.<\/p>\n

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Carolina Maria de Jesus was a Brazilian writer, composer, and poet, most known for her book “Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus,” published in Brazil in 1960.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bibliographic Scrapping and the Curricular Color of Power<\/h3>\n
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Ricardo Pinheiro, 42, literature professor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Literature professor Ricardo Pinheiro, 42, says that his academic and life journey would have been very different had he been introduced to black authors as a child. This would have made all the difference for his self-esteem, which was compromised<\/a> over the course of his basic education.<\/p>\n

Understanding how Brazilian universities reproduce racist discourses and mechanisms through the curriculum in order to educate future teachers is fundamental for a review of the educational space. Transforming these curricular structures and content would certainly reduce school flight<\/a>. As the African proverb goes, \u201cYou can only start from where you are.\u201d Thus, shedding light on the extent to which education has failed to review its practices is the first step towards creating new paths.<\/p>\n

The road ahead is slow and bumpy, but the objective is to gain a deeper understanding in order to transform the perpetual invisibility and silencing of African and Afro-Brazilian history in teacher training spaces. In his book The Order of Discourse<\/a><\/em>, French philosopher Michel Foucault<\/a> reminds us that in every society the production of discourse is simultaneously controlled, selected, and organized by a certain number of procedures of power and control. The purpose of discourse is to conjure powers and incarnate the dangers found in society. Discourse involves dominating knowledge. It is power.<\/p>\n

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Machado de Assis was a Brazilian writer considered by many critics, scholars, writers, and readers to be one of the biggest names, if not the biggest name in Brazilian literature.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Afonso Henriques de Lima Barreto was a Brazilian writer and journalist who published novels, short stories, and extensive work in 20th century anarchist journals and magazines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like discourse, curricula are also a form of power. Thus, curricular content even today serves those who hold the most influence in this power struggle. To them, it is inconvenient to incorporate other perspectives beyond those that maintain the status quo<\/em>. It can thus be argued that schools function as institutions for maintaining restrictions on knowledge and reproducing disciplinary and punitive processes.<\/p>\n

Evidence can be found these days that teacher training programs in Brazil contribute to a contemporary colonialism in the teaching structure. They reproduce practices of symbolic violence, of black history erasure, and of silencing voices, which recount, narrate, and construct other perspectives<\/a>, another history. It\u2019s important to stress that the white epistemology of the university, which ignores or negates the existence or the importance of a black intellectualism, reinforces a eugenic relationship. White supremacy in the ways of seeing and thinking attempts to obstruct access and stigmatize everything that is not Eurocentric. This bibliographic scrapping during the teacher training period is harmful to future teachers and their future students, as it promotes the distancing of various possibilities of educational, cultural, and social transformation.<\/p>\n

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A professor at the Federal University of Rio, Beatriz Nascimento was a historian, a screenwriter, poet, and activist for human rights of black people and women.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Aline Cristina do Carmo, 37, has a post-doc in Education and PhD in Philosophy, and teaches at Col\u00e9gio Pedro II.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aline Cristina do Carmo, 37, a high school teacher at Col\u00e9gio Pedro II who holds a PhD in Philosophy, mentioned that her first contact with a black author was during her master\u2019s, when she read In My Father\u2019s House<\/a> <\/em>by Kwame Anthony Appiah<\/a>. She also said that, during her high school and undergraduate studies, she read Lima Barreto, Machado de Assis, and Saint Augustine of Hippo<\/a>\u2014who was based in what today would be Algeria\u2014though there was never any indication of the blackness or Africanness of these authors: yet another journey marked by racial erasure in the curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only read black women authors on my own, outside university. I read Angela Davis<\/a>, Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw<\/a>, Concei\u00e7\u00e3o Evaristo, Carolina Maria de Jesus\u2014all these names that showed me my own spaces for activism. These were never required readings at university, as far as I remember, for my bachelor\u2019s, master\u2019s, or PhD, in either Philosophy or Law. But it\u2019s possible that I read black authors without having been informed as much. Thula Pires<\/a>, for example, was recommended by my master\u2019s supervisor.\u201d \u2014 Aline Cristina do Carmo<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Thula Oliveira Pires is a professor at PUC-Rio and coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Center for African Descendent Research and Heritage (NIREMA).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aside from black absences in curricula, Brazilian-Congolese anthropologist and professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Kabengele Munanga<\/a>, says that some teachers don\u2019t know how to deal with incidents of flagrant discrimination in school spaces, due to their lack of preparation or prejudice. What should be a valuable teaching opportunity for discussing diversity and demonstrating the importance and wealth it offers to our culture and national identity becomes a moment of repression, with no discussion or collective learning taking place, a moment that at times is even one of subtle acquiescence<\/a>, a reproducer of racist social practices.<\/p>\n

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Kabengele Munanga, Brazilian-Congolese thinker, a reference in Brazil in ethnic-racial relations and racism, professor at UFRJ.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Luiz Gama, abolitionist, lawyer, journalist and black Brazilian writer. Patron of the abolition of slavery, son of Luisa Mahin. Photo taken in 1880.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From school to university and from university back to school, the history of slavery is continuously being told and retold from a white lens<\/a>, without taking into consideration all the other histories that could be shared on the African continent, the importance of the African men and women who constructed the history of Brazil, and the great deeds and figures prior to their being kidnapped and enslaved. The Afro-Brazilian cultural legacy is ignored, along with the importance of the Black Movement<\/a> in the struggle against slavery and racism in Brazil.<\/p>\n

Although there are many obstacles in the process of deconstructing these spaces of whiteness<\/a>, we also must recognize that there are educators who tirelessly seek to reshape racial tensions and their consequences in educational spaces. However, not even Brazilian Law 10,639\/2003<\/a> resulted in a majority of education professionals meeting the basic requirements set forth.<\/p>\n

Professor Ricardo Pinheiro says he first had contact with African and Afro-Brazilian histories, cultures, and literatures in graduate school. The course Pinheiro was enrolled in, like so many others, came about in order to meet the requirements of Law 10,639\/2003. However, we know that not all universities abide by this law<\/a>. Some only follow it symbolically, on specific commemorative dates, such as Abolition Day or Black Awareness Day<\/a>. And thus, the dynamics of slavery and submission persists.<\/p>\n

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Jos\u00e9 do Patroc\u00ednio was an abolitionist, pharmacist, journalist, writer, speaker, and black Brazilian political activist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Black Brazilian Literature as Political Pedagogy<\/h3>\n

In literature, it is rather startling to note the degree of rejection, especially of black academic women. A recent example was when renowned writer Concei\u00e7\u00e3o Evaristo<\/a>, from the state of Minas Gerais, lost a chair appointment<\/a> to the Brazilian Academy of Letters, in 2018, despite overwhelming popular support. Instead, white filmmaker Cac\u00e1 Diegues was recognized as an \u201cimmortal,\u201d as appointees are known. In an interview, the (white) writer and former president of the academy, N\u00e9lida Pi\u00f1on, said<\/a> that Evaristo had committed \u201ccampaign errors<\/a>\u201d by not following certain bureaucratic traditions typically observed by candidates, such as sending out telegrams, meeting with other \u201cimmortals\u201d for coffee, and presenting them with their works. The award-winning black author, who responded to Pi\u00f1on’s remarks<\/a>, was not even recognized as a candidate by certain academics.<\/p>\n

While Concei\u00e7\u00e3o Evaristo failed to be appointed due to \u201ccampaign errors,\u201d Fernanda Montenegro<\/a> was elected as an \u201cimmortal\u201d to the academy even before announcing her candidacy. It is important to note that while Concei\u00e7\u00e3o Evaristo has been an international award-winning author for over 30 years, with dozens of published and translated novels, stories, and poems, Fernanda Montenegro is an actress with only two autobiographies published in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n

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Maria Firmina dos Reis, a black woman from the state of Maranh\u00e3o, she was the first woman to publish a novel in Brazil.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For some white professors in this area, there is no distinction between Brazilian literature and black Brazilian literature. They stress that segregation of the literary movements could undermine the construction of Brazil\u2019s written identity. But how can this identity emerge when the image of black people is associated with violence, marginalization, ignorance, as well as sexual, aesthetic, and social stigmas? It is vital to highlight black literature in a country that redoubles efforts to ensure it never sees the light of day. Maria Firmina dos Reis<\/a>, a black woman from the state of Maranh\u00e3o, was the first woman to publish a novel in Brazil. She\u2019s the author of \u00darsula<\/a><\/em>, considered the country’s first abolitionist work. Have we ever heard of her?<\/p>\n

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Milton Santos, professor of geography at USP, is known for being a pioneer in various branches of geography, notably urban geography in developing countries.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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With a master’s in Comparative History from UFRJ, \u00c9le Semog is a poet and author of short stories.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Putting together a written record that allows for the emergence of black male and female authors is essential. This would allow us the possibility of one day having many other literary and literary theory works by these authors on the shelves of libraries, school reading rooms, and universities, which would serve as scholastic instruments for black and non-black students alike. If Brazilian society continues to exclude these works, stereotypes and stigmas reproduced by histories recounted through the white lens will be increasingly reinforced.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack literature, specifically Afro-Brazilian literature, is unquestionably political and pedagogical in nature.\u201d \u2014 Semog<\/a>, black poet from Nova Igua\u00e7u<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To bring about this transformation, black men and women education professionals have been working towards incorporating non-hegemonic readings in the classroom, in an attempt to repair the absence of black, indigenous, and LGBTQIA+<\/a> authors. Often, mere deconstruction fails to generate effects. Additional references must be created within the sphere of education. We must highlight the question of voice, a concept deepened by Indian author Gayatri Spivak<\/a> popularized in Brazil by Djamila Ribeiro<\/a>, which shows us the importance of listening to subjects<\/a> tell their own stories, who for too long have been prevented from doing so.<\/p>\n

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Djamila Ribeiro is a philosopher, black feminist, writer, and Brazilian academic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n
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Cruz e Sousa was a Brazilian symbolist poet. He was the precursor to the symbolist movement in Brazil.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We must urgently propose a new path, one where professionals are able to pluralize their viewpoints, and recognize the black population\u2019s production of knowledge. We must break with the romanticization of European content and theories, which only further subalternizes and colonizes us.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the 1980s, the view still persisted that both Cruz e Souza<\/a> and Lima Barreto were lesser authors, or of lesser relevance, or of such a troubled existence that their literary value was proportionally less, or that they excelled more in journalism and less in literature.\u201d \u2014 Ricardo Pinheiro<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

References from the European continent encase writings in a quest for an ideal aesthetic and theoretical ideal. There\u2019s an ideal that is inconsistent with the national reality, where we, black men and women, are missing. Even for black or African references, as in the case of Saint Augustine, race is a reference that is erased. This is a phenomenon called \u201ccolor blindness,\u201d an old racist strategy for rendering blacks and their accomplishments invisible.<\/p>\n

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Sueli Carneiro is a philosopher, writer, and anti-racist activist of the black Brazilian social movement. Photo by Andr\u00e9 Seiti\/Ita\u00fa Cultural Collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to philosopher Sueli Carneiro<\/a>, we must urgently \u201cwork towards the construction of a multi-racial and pluricultural society, where difference is experienced as equivalence and no longer as inferiority.\u201d From this perspective, a review of teacher training curricula is needed in order to include an entire intellectual production that has been left out of the classroom.<\/p>\n

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Giovana Xavier, a black feminist who writes about intersectionality in education, is a professor at UFRJ, where she coordinates the Group of Black Studies and Intellectual Research. She is also an administrator of the page @pretadotora.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It must be stressed that Law 10,639 needs revisiting, because it is pointless to have a directive that must be complied with if there are no professionals prepared to do so and without being able to guarantee representation in the classroom<\/a>. Lastly, it is important to stress the need to include non-hegemonic works in schools, which take into account the characteristics of our people, which are able to narrate other histories that are more diverse in terms of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and territory.<\/p>\n

Listen to the Accompanying Podcast in Portuguese\u00a0Here<\/a>:<\/h3>\n