With “Black Skin” and “Orange” Hair

How 6th-grade Students in Pernambuco Represent Themselves Through the Classical Characters of the Aeneid

Abstract

This article examines how 6th-grade students from a public school in the municipality of Carpina, Pernambuco, interpret Book I of the Aeneid (in an adapted version) and construct representations through textual and iconographic productions. The main objective is to analyze how these representations articulate processes of self-representation among the students themselves. Methodologically, the study is based on the adaptation of historical sources, as proposed by Wineburg and Martin (2009), combined with the production of narrative resources such as storyline, synopsis, script, and storyboard, understood as devices of symbolic construction in light of social representations theory (Jodelet, 2001). Data were collected through classroom productions developed entirely under teacher supervision. The results show that, when representing classical characters, students mobilize elements from their sociocultural repertoire, producing reinterpretations marked by contemporary, identity-based, and affective references. It is concluded that working with classical narratives, mediated by teaching strategies that value student authorship, enhances the construction of historical and identity meanings, composed of interwoven perspectives, feelings, and understandings that bring to light an ancient world vividly connected to present-day concerns.