Racismo ambiental em obras literárias distribuídas pelos governos brasileiro e colombiano: uma discussão possível

Abstract

Racism is part of the mechanism for consolidating processes that establish societal models based on inequality, hierarchy, the shaping of bodies and thoughts, and the use of natural resources. In Brazil and Colombia, and all over the world, the effects of these mechanisms are revealed by the inequalities and violence to which non-white populations have been and are subjected, as well as by environmental devastation. Starting from this premise, for the doctoral research carried out in the Postgraduate Program in Education at the Federal University of Uberlândia, the following research question was proposed: How do the literary works of the National Book and Didactic Material Program 2020 - Literary Works (PNLD 2020 Literary) distributed for elementary education, final years, in Brazil and the National Plan for Reading, Writing and Orality (PNLEO) «Reading is my story» 2018-2022, Narrated Territories Collection, in Colombia, which deal with ethnic-racial and environmental themes, offer pedagogical tools for confronting and overcoming environmental racism? As a General Objective we had: To analyze the pedagogical potential of literary works from Brazil and Colombia that deal with Racism and Environment for the confrontation and overcoming of Environmental Racism, intended for students in the final years of elementary education, approved by the National Book and Didactic Material Program 2020 - Literary Works (PNLD 2020 Literary) – Brazil - and by the National Plan for Reading, Writing and Orality (PNLEO) 2018-2022, Narrated Territories Collection – Colombia -. The specific objectives were: To identify the concepts of racism and environment addressed by the selected literary works of the PNLD 2020 Literary and the PNLEO, Narrated Territories Collection; To locate the possible contributions of the selected literary works for the discussion of environmental racism; To discuss the approaches and distances between the ethnic-racial and environmental issues present in the selected literary works; and To understand the way in which the selected literary works respond, or not, to an educational proposal that allows the awareness and confrontation of environmental racism. The bibliographic-documentary research constructed a file containing 6 books distributed in Brazilian schools and a file composed of 4 books made available to Colombian schools. The criterion used for the selection of books from the National Book and Didactic Material Program 2020 - Literary Works (PNLD 2020 Literary) was to choose from the complete reviews located on the program’s platform, the works that contained the terms “environmental racism”, “racism” and “environment”. Regarding the books of the National Plan for Reading, Writing and Orality (PNLEO) “Reading is my story” 2018-2022, Narrated Territories Collection, the criterion was to choose books about the territories inhabited by Afro-descendants and indigenous people and about their relationship with the environment. The analysis technique was built on the theoretical basis of discourse analysis in Michel Foucault. The result of the analysis indicates the majority presence of authorship by white men in the production and circulation of works in Brazil and the participation of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities in the production of books in Colombia, as well as the inclusion of ethnic-racial and environmental issues in school education in the referred countries, generally, in a disjointed way. Furthermore, it is possible to affirm that the books present pedagogical potentialities for the discussion of environmental and ethnic-racial issues and can be appropriated for the discussion of Environmental Racism in school. However, the use of the concept Environmental Racism was not identified within the books, although there are approaches that the teacher or the reader can enhance based on concepts found in the books. The distances found between ethnic-racial and environmental issues reiterate the need for educational systems to assume the guarantee of debate, and consequently, the right to life of black and indigenous populations in their territories. The fact that literary works are considered only as complementary materials within pedagogical practice can hinder the commitment to consolidating an anti-racist education with environmental awareness.