Processo educativo de criança em um terreiro do Sul de Minas Gerais: olhares dos líderes e familiares

Abstract

This research examines the terreiro Castelo de São Jorge Nagô, located in Lavras, Minas Gerais, as a potential pedagogical space, considering the perspectives of leaders and family members who frequent this religious space. Grounded in cultural studies theorists such as Stuart Hall, as well as Brazilian decolonial and post-colonial authors, the theoretical framework problematizes racism, epistemicide, and coloniality as factors contributing to the invisibility of Afro-Brazilian knowledge within the cultural context, serving as the starting point. The research method is based on bricolage, which proposes a flexible and multifaceted methodological approach. In this sense, an immersion inspired by post-structuralist ethnography was utilized, with records in images and field notes, along with content analysis of the terreiro's social media and local media coverage, supplemented by semi-structured interviews conducted from an oral history perspective, aiming to fully understand the lived experiences of the participants. The analytical results, following a presentation of the research locus, are structured into three chapters that initially discuss the impact of racism and epistemicide as forces erasing Afro-Brazilian epistemologies. Subsequently, the construction of Black identity and the strength of the collective as sociocultural resistance are explored. The focus then shifts to childhood in the terreiro, highlighting how children experience and re-signify their cultural and ancestral heritage. The next section examines the pedagogy inherent in the practices of the terreiro, emphasizing its formative potential and processes of non-formal teaching and learning. Finally, the last part analyzes the interfaces between the pedagogical practices of the terreiro and formal education, contributing to reflections on anti-racist and intercultural education.By positioning the terreiro as a space of resistance and identity formation for children, from the perspective of leaders and family members, this research concludes with the necessity to expand the debate regarding non-hegemonic contexts in the construction of plural and decolonial knowledge.