Imagens de Povos Indígenas em Livros Didáticos de Geografia: Elementos Para Pensar Alteridades e Diferença na Produção do Conhecimento

Abstract

The goal in this paper is to discuss, based on photographs present in Geography textbooks of the early years of elementary school, how the indigenous peoples are presented and how these images contribute to the constitution and/or reproduction of certain conceptions about indigenous people. For this, the selected photographs present in two collections of Geography textbooks approved in the 2019 PNLD and observed that, most of them present generalizations that can reinforce and reproduce prejudiced ideas or stereotypes about indigenous people. The repetition of the same elements to present the indigenous people, such as body ornamentation with paint or ornaments, dwellings located in forest areas and/or non-urban spaces and built with materials considered "rudimentary and primitive" contribute to the idea that these peoples are all the same and fixed in the past. In addition to these, was identified a smaller number of other photographs in which the indigenous people are not associated or restricted to this characterization by appearing in urban spaces and contexts, in situations of study, work, consumption or other activities and using products common to non-indigenous societies. Thus, it highlights the importance of problematizing these images in order to deconstruct stereotypes about indigenous peoples, contributing to the affirmation of difference and the production of otherness as foundations of school geographic knowledge.