Choice of Knowledge in Indigenous Schools: Two Guarani Cases (São Paulo, Brazil)

Abstract

What social processes determine the choice of the knowledge that circulates in indigenous schools? This question may shed light on the modalities of power that contribute to forging collective meanings of education in local communities. The article presents research aimed to answer this question. We made direct observation of two schools in Guarani territories in SP and conducted interviews and informal conversations with their teachers and leaders. The results describe the influence of governmental conduct, teaching conceptions, and community preferences on the conformation of school work. The performance of indigenous teachers stands out, who produce circumscribed practices of autonomy that, in the small-scale perspective of the logic of educational innovation, overcome the colonialist norm which historically shaped schools for indigenous people.