A educação das relações étnico-raciais na formação de professores de Geografia na Universidade Federal da Paraíba

Abstract

The main objective of this dissertation is to analyze the contribution of the mandatory component “Education on Ethnic-Racial Relations” (ERER) in the training of Geography teachers at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB). The research adopts a critical and Afrocentric perspective, deeply informed by the author’s personal experiences as a Black woman, teacher, capoeirista, and activist. The study is situated within the debates on the implementation of Law 10.639/2003 and the struggles surrounding the curriculum as a tool for resistance, memory, and social justice. Teacher education, in this context, is understood as a field where scientific knowledge, territorial experiences, and collective memories intersect, demanding an approach that transcends technical and neutral boundaries. For this purpose, the study pursues three specific objectives: to understand the significance of Law 10.639/2003 for geography teacher education; to identify the presence of ethnic-racial relations content in the syllabi of the mandatory curricular components; and to analyze the experiences of instructors who have taught the subject alongside students’ impressions of the component. The methodology includes bibliographic research, document analysis, and focus groups with faculty members, current and former students, and members of NEABI (Núcleo de Estudos Afro-Brasileiros e Indígenas). Data were analyzed using Bardin (2011) content analysis technique, allowing for the construction of categories that highlight ERER institutional trajectory, its formative impacts, and pedagogical meanings. Key theoretical references include Freire (1992, 1996), Evaristo (2020), Anjos (2011, 2014), Miranda (2020), Gomes (2011), Munanga (2005, 2015), Arroyo (2017), Zeichnner (2008), Santos (2010), Ratts (2010), among others. One of the study’s innovations is the incorporation of authorial cartographies, created based on the author's life itineraries. These maps, inspired by Anjos (2011) Black cartographies, break from the Euclidean and technical tradition of academic cartography, especially using colors and shapes, while still maintaining features essential for spatial orientation. They represent personal and collective trajectories — from childhood in Jaboatão dos Guararapes/PE to academic activity in João Pessoa/PB — and symbolize the body as a territory of knowledge, resistance, and transformation that underpinned the construction of this dissertation. The findings indicate that the ERER component is recognized as a powerful tool for training teachers committed to antiracist pedagogical practices. However, its implementation still faces structural limitations, such as thematic isolation and lack of integration with other curricular components. The research demonstrates that while the inclusion of ERER in the curriculum is a significant advance, it is not sufficient: the transversal integration of ethnic-racial relations in geography education still needs to be consolidated. It concludes that the effective implementation of Law 10,639/2003 in teacher education requires a political commitment from educational institutions to Black, Indigenous, and peripheral epistemologies. The study affirms that the curriculum is not neutral and that the inclusion of ERER should be understood as historical reparation, a strategy to combat racism, and a means to build a more critical, plural, and engaged geography.