With the goal of protecting the Cerrado and valuing the identity of the people who live in the biome, the Community Association of Small Breeders of Fecho de Pasto de Clemente (ACCFC), in Bahia, is launching the book "Territory that Teaches: Knowledge of the Cerrado in School".
The material was developed from the proposal to bring the knowledge of the Cerrado to schools. To create the work, workshops were held with social organizations, teachers, students, and communities of Fundo and Fecho de Pasto in the Correntina region (BA). The result is what the authors themselves describe as an affective and pedagogical map: a tool for recognizing the territory as a living classroom, valuing the identity of the Cerrado peoples, and cultivating respect for ancestral origins, beliefs, and practices.
Developed by researcher and teacher Raquel da Costa Barbosa, from a traditional community, the material is intended for teachers and students from preschool to the 9th grade of elementary school.
The proposal is that the book be incorporated into the pedagogical planning of schools without replacing the official curriculum, but enriching teaching with references from the territory itself. “It is not disconnected from the teacher's planning. If the curriculum requires that the fifth-grade student understand the biography genre, they will learn biography, but starting from the story of a midwife from the community,” explains Raquel.
The book is organized into three thematic units that address environmental issues affecting the entire planet: water, environment, and territory. The units follow the school calendar and are anchored in symbolic dates: World Water Day (March 22) and the International Day of Action Against Dams (March 14) guide the first unit; World Environment Day (June 5), the second; and National Cerrado Day (September 11) and Black Awareness Day (November 20), the third.
Dispute in the room
According to the publication's coordinator and ACCFC partner, Eldo Moreira Barreto, the motivation behind creating "Territory that Teaches: Knowledge of the Cerrado in School" was the need for children, adolescents, and young people from the region's traditional communities to reflect on themselves and the space in which they live. But there is also a broader and more urgent context, such as the growing influence of agribusiness on school curricula.
In a report published by The FactsAccording to the journalistic organization dedicated to combating misinformation, the publishing market has been under pressure to remove content considered negative for agribusiness from school textbooks.
Professor Raquel da Costa Barbosa goes further and points out that teaching materials produced by the sector have been reaching schools in the region for years, and according to her, often with good visual presentation, awards for students, and benefits for educational institutions. “From a pedagogical point of view, these materials are well-developed. But it's from an ideological point of view that we need to discuss this. They enter through the front door,” she warns. “We need to contest this from within the school.”
Eldo adds: “It’s a context of dispute and denial of the identity of traditional territories. Agribusiness produces teaching materials for schools while the children, young people, and the entire community, who are the subjects of this space, are left without seeing themselves represented.”
Identity as content
To bring the community into the pages, the book presents five biographies of real residents from the communities: a midwife, a healer, a cowboy who became a leader in the fight for land, a woman who combined faith and political activism, and a quilombola leader who represented Brazil at international meetings of rural women.
“When students see themselves reflected in the material, they begin to understand that that culture is important. We need to instill a sense of appreciation so that children, from early childhood education onwards, can recognize themselves and the importance of their identity,” says Raquel.
Eldo reinforces Paulo Freire's vision that underpins the project. "There's no way to move forward without working on education based on the knowledge of each individual," he points out. "We hope that teachers and students will identify in this material the possibility of deepening and reflecting on their space, their lives, their local area, and at the same time reflecting on the world and other regions."
Beyond the Cerrado
The creators of the material believe that the experience can inspire similar initiatives in other biomes and regions of Brazil. "What guides us are the central themes: water, territory, culture. These themes can be adapted with the elements of each region," says Eldo.
The next step for ACCFC is to engage in dialogue with the education departments in the region so that the material formally reaches the schools, accompanied by teacher training. The book is already... available for free download on the ISPN website.
The book
“Territory that Teaches: Knowledge of the Cerrado in School” is a project of the Community Association of Small Breeders of Fecho de Pasto de Clemente (ACCFC), in partnership with the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN), with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Small Grants Programme (SGP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).