Vai na fé: teledramaturgia na sala de aula para (re)construir a (eco)democracia brasileira

Abstract

This paper aims at problematizing the relationships between language, faith, linguistic education and a strong and sustainable democracy; and at defending the insertion of the subject faith in pedagogical practices for critical and decolonial linguistic education, especially at this time of rebuilding the Brazilian democracy. According to Kwok (2012), interfaith dialogue is an essential practice for the stability of democratic relations. We argue that faith, as a discursive category, is part of human language, and, therefore, an object for Applied Linguistics, which justifies bringing the subject back, even though traditionally absent from discussions in the area. To build the argument, we start by the understanding of the soap opera genre as a powerful pulverizer of discourses in Brazil and abroad, due to the enormous acceptance of the genre both within Brazilian domestic market and also abroad, as soap operas are exported to several countries around the world. From that point on, we focus on the television drama Vai na Fé, produced and exhibited by TV Globo, and identify, the intertwined decolonial responses to the coloniality of knowledge, power and being (Quijano, 2005) found in the construction of the piece. The results point to the possibilities of using the genre in language classes to encourage the construction of a decolonial society.