Brazil's Anti-Racist Education Reforms And Their Effects On High School History Textbooks: Addressing Critical Reflection On Race And Racism Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Lynch, Lucas Leonard Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 27/09/2021 17:41:28 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/595642 BRAZIL’S ANTI-RACIST EDUCATION REFORMS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY TEXTBOOKS: ADDRESSING CRITICAL REFLECTION ON RACE AND RACISM by Lucas Lynch ____________________________ A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2015 ADDRESSING CRITICAL REFLECTION ON RACE AND RACISM 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: _______________________ Lucas Lynch APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: _____________________________ Dr. Patrisia Gonzales Date Professor of Mexican American Studies ADDRESSING CRITICAL REFLECTION ON RACE AND RACISM 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my thesis advisor and mentor, Dr. Patrisia Gonzales, for first seeing promise in me and standing in as my advisor when I was having trouble with forming my committee. Dr. Gonzales was extremely valuable for providing her expertise and insight throughout the research and writing processes of my thesis. I would also like to thank the rest of my thesis committee, Dr. Kevin Gosner and Dr. Julio Cammarota, for their expertise and mentorship that has also informed my ideas along this journey. I would like to acknowledge my long time Brazilian friend, Thiago Lourenço, for providing his experiences, encouragement, support, and valuable feedback for ideas contained in this thesis. Abraços, Amigo. I would also like to thank my wife, Michelle Lynch, for her support throughout my thesis writing, her help with translations, and most importantly her encouragement to keep on working when I was ready at times to give up. Beijos, Meu Amor. ADDRESSING CRITICAL REFLECTION ON RACE AND RACISM 4 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Female “path” of human evolution ....................................................................40 Figure 2. Line diagram of human evolution ......................................................................41 Figure 3. Photo 1 of the activity on historic racism in the media ......................................54 Figure 4. Photo 2 of the activity on historic racism in the media ......................................55 Figure 5. Photo 3 of the activity on historic racism in the media ......................................56 Figure 6. What we owe to Africans (p. 92 from textbook) ...............................................74 Figure 7. What we owe to Africans (p. 93 from textbook) ...............................................75 ADDRESSING CRITICAL REFLECTION ON RACE AND RACISM 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................3 LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................4 ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................8 Positionality .........................................................................................................................8 Background ........................................................................................................................10 Implications of the Racial Democracy Myth towards Inequality and Prejudice ...............12 The Role of the Black Movement in Education Reforms ....................................................13 The Role of the PNLD in Constructing Anti-racist Curriculum ........................................15 Background of the Study ....................................................................................................16 Relevance of the Study .......................................................................................................17 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ..........................................................................19 The State of Past and Present Curriculum ........................................................................19 The Role of Multicultural and Anti-racist Education in Brazilian Education Reforms ....22 Implications for Freire’s Approach to Critical Pedagogy in Education Reforms.............25 Examples of the Realities of Racial Identity in Brazil .......................................................27 Considerations for the Use of the Terms “Race,” “Ethnicity,” and “Ethnic-racial” ......28 CHAPTER III: METHODS ...............................................................................................31 Description of the Textbooks .............................................................................................31 Method, Coding Process, and Categories .........................................................................33 Limitations of the Study .....................................................................................................37 CHAPTER IV: CONSTRUCTING RACE, EXPLAINING RACISM .............................38 Constructing “Race” .........................................................................................................38 Example 1: Negating Race: “We are all equal” ..................................................38 Example 2: Beginning of Racist Thought, African Slavery, and the Slave Trade: “With the blessings of the church” ......................................................................43 Example 3: Nineteenth Century Racism and “Scientific” Thought Explained and Critiqued: “Science and racism” .........................................................................44 Example 4: The “Whitening” Ideology Explained ..............................................45 Explaining Racism .............................................................................................................47 Admitting Racism .......................................................................................................47 Example 5: Brazilian “Black Consciousness Day” and Black resistance discussed ..............................................................................................................47 Example 6: The Racial Democracy Myth Defined and Critiqued: “Does racism exist in Brazil?” ...................................................................................................48 Example 7: “Interpreting” Racism ......................................................................53 Example 8: Reflecting on Brazil’s “Disguised” Racism .....................................57 ADDRESSING CRITICAL REFLECTION ON RACE AND RACISM 6 Example 9: The Afonso Arinos Law and the 1988 Constitution – Confirming Racism in Twentieth-Century Brazil ...................................................................59 Omitting Racism .........................................................................................................60 Example 10: Reflecting on Slavery: the 2001 III World Conference against Racism, Xenophobia, and Related Violence – “Today times are different” .......60 Example 11: Discussing Racism, Sidestepping Race ..........................................63 Chapter Conclusion ...........................................................................................................64 CHAPTER V: EXPLANATIONS AND REFLECTIONS ON CULTURAL AND ETHNIC/RACIAL MIXTURE IN BRAZIL .....................................................................67 Narrating Brazilian cultural and ethnic identity – “We are what we are, unclassifiable”67 European, African, and/or Indigenous influence on Brazilian Society, Culture, and People ................................................................................................................................71 “What we owe to Africans” ........................................................................................72 African and/or Indigenous Influence on Brazilian people – “the presence of Black culture in our (Brazilian) culture” ...............................................................................76 African and Indigenous influence on Brazilian Nationality – Blacks and Indians: