The Italian school in Pelotas (RS, Brazil) during the decades of 1920 and 1930: among local, national and international contexts

Abstract

This text aims to investigate the Italian school in Pelotas, in the decades of 1920 and 1930, when there were important changes in the institutions related to immigration groups. The research is justified by the need to boost studies about the scholarization of Italian immigrants in these decades, since most of the knowledge about it up to now is focused on the late 19th and early 20th century. To contemplate the discussion on this context, the research uses the theoretical perspective of transnational history and transnational history of educations. Sources are Italian consulate documents, reports by commissions in charge of the restructuring of Italian schools abroad, and reports by the Italian Society in Pelotas and by the city’s mayors. Analyzing the sources from the perspective proposed herein, it was observed that Italian school, along the years analyzed, was influenced by both Italian fascist policies of Mussolini’s governments and by the my the municipal context of Pelotas’ government, with the opening of new public schools: in addition to that, it was also affected by the greater Brazilian context, with nationalist policies by the government of Getulio Vargas’, that culminated with the closing of the school in 1938.