Childhood in Santa Catarina, Brazil, and intercultural education

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14244/198271991135

The purpose of this article is to reflect on childhood in Santa Catarina state, Brazil, from the perspective of intercultural education. To this end, a theoretical review and an exploratory empirical study were conducted with 78 children, of various ethnic descents, aged eight to 12 years. The study was based on the assumption that children in Santa Catarina come from varied descents and, therefore, would present some common cultural elements, but also some specificity regarding cultural-aesthetic values. Inter-cultural education should aim to enable educational contexts where conflicts between identity and difference are minimized, encouraging respect and solidarity between children. The study was developed within the Childhood Museum of Brazil project, a cultural space set up for children, along the lines of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum in New York. Participants were children of African, Indigenous, and European descents. The profile outlined from the study results revealed characteristics common to all of them: values attributed to people (respect for elders, responsibility, and honesty); expressed characteristics of each descent (celebrations, cuisine, religious manifestations); and predomination of ‘consumer beauty’ (pale or tanned skin and straight hair) with respect to the physical standard of beauty. These results create the Virtual Network, that of the Childhood Imaginarium, which will, in turn, nourish the Museum in its activities.

Keywords: Childhood in Santa Catarina state, Childhood Museum of Brazil, Intercultural education.