Quilombo children’s self-concept: Grandmothers’ and teachers’ voices

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14244/198271991107

The main aim of this article is to investigate the constitution of black children´s self-concept. These children live in Toca de Santa Cruz quilombo, located in the municipality of Paulo Lopes (SC), Brazil. In order to obtain data for this work, it was used the research developed by Botega (2006), who analyzed and observed black children in a quilombo context and in a state school during the school year. This article focuses on the implications of grandmothers’ and teachers’ voices in the constitution of black children’s self-conception. During the research, it was used an ethnographic approach to collect data, some participative observations at two classrooms during the breaks, and Physical Education classes, besides semi-structured interviews with three teachers. It was also written a book in which it was related interviews that children have done with their grandmothers in the quilombo scenario. The results aimed to the valuation of the school and the children under grandmothers’ point of view, and to a speech which shows the difficulties of learning and the racial equality faced by teachers and their internal conflicts. It was evident that black children create strategies to live in the school space, which have been observed in their daily attitudes. Therefore, the self-concept is constituted by interactions in the socio educative contexts such as school and quilombo.

Key-words: Self-concept, Black children, School, Quilombo.