Teaching african literature as an emancipatory practice for children and adolescents in Brazil

Abstract

Based on a critical reflection on the universalization of Euro-Western knowledge, this article proposes a project of readings of works of African literature in Portuguese in basic education, as emancipatory practices from the dominant hegemonic thought. Starting from Freire's proposition of confronting “banking education”, and using a bibliographic methodology based on post-colonial authors – such as Walter Mignolo (2008; 2018), Anibal Quijano (2005), Linda Hutcheon (1991), V.Y. Mudimbe (2013), among others –, the article highlights how the predominance of Eurocentric epistemologies, marginalizing knowledge of peoples from non-Western cultures, shapes school content in a way that diminishes or stigmatizes knowledge coming from Africa. The aim of this work is to provide a pedagogical proposal for young Brazilian students, providing them with relevant knowledge for Brazilian cultural formation and a contribution to connections of Afro-descendant ancestry, historically erased by colonialist oppression. This proposal is based on emancipation, insofar as knowledge of African traditions, so present in national plurality, provides a broader recognition of the socio-historical reality and the identities that make up Brazilian culture.