[ EARLY CHILDHOOD ]
By Clarissa Brito
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Why forge anti-racist and Afro-referenced pedagogy in early childhood?
Education has always been a place of dreams and societal projections; education has always been a territory of hopeful desires, a place of encounter, a place for the construction of imagination and identities. For these reasons, the black social movement has always sought EDUCATION to legitimize its paths of healing and reduction of existing racial stress in society.
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Anti-racist Pedagogy is the most powerful path for humanity to relearn how to relate and forge a world where all people see themselves as possible subjects of intellect, love, dignity, and social relevance.
And why did we choose the Early Childhood Education segment again to also work on anti-racist pedagogy here at Aperte o PLAY+? Early Childhood Education plays a crucial role in building repertoires and, consequently, in fostering an anti-racist and Afro-referenced mindset. In this stage of schooling, we are challenged to look at the world beyond ourselves, experiencing the 'learning to see the world' and living with others.
As humans, subjects of relationships, we undergo a potent opening of pathways in Early Childhood Education. Thus, immersing a child in real black and African references is foundational for the development of self-esteem, empathy, and racial awareness.
The process of building an Anti-racist and Afro-referenced pedagogical system involves important stages for the change of the educational paradigm. It is necessary to re-Africanize our thinking and movement in the world, as well as recognize black ancestry as a path to a possible life and the reconstruction of one's own existence.
There have been many paths that black people have traveled in the struggle for a real and just education for their own existence. In this process, many milestones impacted Brazilian educational thinking until the implementation of Law 10.639/2003, which, in 2003, made it mandatory in educational spaces to teach the true History of Africa and Africans, both those born on the continent, the cradle of humanity, and the diasporic ones.
The law also indicates that the contribution of black people in culture, economy, politics, and the social field should be part of school narratives. There is a powerful milestone, prior to the implementation of this important educational law, which is crucial for the development of fair and relevant work with black children, and that is the emergence of the Afro block Ilê AiyêAiye [1974] and its self-esteem methodology.
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In 1974, under the inspiration of Antonio Carlos dos Santos Vovô and with the support and strength of Apolônio, Dete, Vivaldo, Ana Meire, Sergio Roberto, Jailson, Lili, Macalé, Eliete Celestino, Joevandro, Maria Auxiliadora, and many others in the vicinity of Curuzu, in the neighborhood of Liberdade, on the outskirts of Salvador (BA), the first Afro block in Brazil emerged.
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It was a time of struggle for freedom when being black meant, and still means, to resist. Wearing black hair, 'dreaded,' braided, aesthetically using elements of blackness, was frowned upon, associated with criminality. However, Ilê Aiyê took to the streets during Carnival singing that being a 'crioulo doido' (a crazy black person) was (and is) very cool, forging a cry of pride, axé (energy), strength, and spirituality.
Today, Ilê Aiyê is a respected, revered, and successful institution known internationally. Ilê carries a consolidated affirmative action for the race, spreading information about the value of the African people and its social reverberations in poetry, music, dance, clothing, and other customs that, together, form culture and spirituality.
The Curuzu region has maintained a connection with Afro-Brazilian culture since the beginning of the occupation of the area, where there are Candomblé terreiros (temples), including Ilê Axé Jitolu, which was led by Mother Hilda for many years and is now under the leadership of one of her daughters. In addition to the practice of axé, Dona Hilda's terreiro was a pioneer in cultural and socio-educational activities for the children of the neighborhood, focusing on the development of black self-esteem, self-knowledge, and the confrontation of racism.
In this methodological context, knowing one's own history and that of their ancestors displaced from the civilizational mark of slavery is liberating. For Mother Hilda, the starting point of black life could not be the whip. For this reason, the inspirations of Mãe Hilda School are essential for a new model of education. The care for black children arises from the starting point of black potentiality and the re-Africanization of one's existence. Racism and the enslavement of minds and bodies are the colonizer's reading rulers.
The search for reparation, justice, and a more equitable society is our daily invitation to think about paths to forge real education for all bodies, minds, and hearts. We all deserve to be read and seen by ourselves as possible subjects of affection, dignity, potentiality, and elements of a great collective uprising.
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