FROM STREETS TO CURRICULA: SOCIAL AND LEGAL PATHS OF LAWS 10.639/03 AND 11.645/08

Abstract

The goal of this article is to investigate the social and juridical paths of the Brazilian federal laws n. 10.639/03 and n. 11.645/08. These laws made the teaching of History and Cultures of Afro-Brazilian and indigenous origin mandatory in all basic education. The premise is that such policies contribute to the process of decolonization of education. To this end, we reviewed the discourses and actions of black and indigenous militants in the field of education, order to understand the events that preceded the promulgation of both laws. Our conclusions point out that, despite the particularities of the demands of each militancy – in view of the fact that the indigenous movement was trying to dissociate itself from the education offered by the official education system, while the black population, on the other hand, was struggling to have equal access to this system –, the two measures result, to a greater or lesser extent, from denunciations and questions about the colonial basis that historically marks Brazilian curricula and schools.