A categoria lugar no ensino de Geografia: uma análise crítica da BNCC para os anos iniciais do ensino fundamental

Abstract

This research was motivated by the recognition of the importance of the concept of place in Geography education. Experiences derived from Supervised Internship demonstrated how the approach to place in the early years of elementary education can create favorable conditions for understanding the world in all its relationships and contradictions. Considering that the approach to this concept may vary depending on the theoretical-methodological framework adopted in the documents guiding the development of curricula in basic education, and recognizing that the definitions given to it may reflect the educational project intended for School Geography, the objective of this research was to assess whether and how the concept of place is addressed in the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) for Geography in the early years of elementary education, seeking to identify from which theoretical-methodological perspective the concept is approached in the document. To that end, a bibliographic review was necessary to provide support for understanding the relationship between theoretical-methodological trends in Geography, conceptualizations of place, and curricular proposals, as well as to support the qualitative analysis of this document. Amorim Filho (1999), Ribeiro (2004), Santos (2006), Carlos (2007), and Leite (2012) were key to understanding the conceptualizations of the place category within the schools of thought that have given it greater centrality: Humanist Geography and Critical Geography. The contributions of Santos (1991), Pontuschka, Paganelli, and Cacete (2007), Kuhn, Toso, and Callai (2019, 2021) revealed the position occupied by this category in curricula throughout the historical development of School Geography. Oliveira (1999) clearly demonstrated how the approach to place in the National Curricular Parameters (PCNs), through an overly subjectivist perspective, was instrumentalized in a way that subjected geographic education to a neoliberal project of subject formation. Through the analysis of the BNCC, we observed a continuity in this process. Explicitly, but not overtly stated, the approach to place in the early years appears in this document to be guided by the assumptions of Humanist Geography. Focusing almost exclusively on symbolic-cultural issues and avoiding those of a socioeconomic nature, its approach aligns with neoliberal interests in promoting an uncritical education, stripping it of its transformative potential.