Sustainable Societies and Environmental Education at the Pataxó Indigenous School of the Jaqueira Reserve
Critical environmental education; indigenous education; traditional peoples; original peoples; Pataxó;
Reserva da Jaqueira.
This work intends to understand the social and environmental educational actions of the Pataxó Indigenous School of the Jaqueira Reserve (Porto Seguro, BA), trying to correlate them with the concept of critical environmental education (EE). Using participant observation and the field diary as methods for data collection, the researcher followed the classes and helped the teachers of the multigrade classes of Elementary School I in the morning and afternoon periods on two days a week, between April and December 2019, totaling about 136 hours of field research activities. Complementing the participant observation and the field diary, the content of the Pataxó indigenous literary production found in the school library and used by teachers and students for reading activities was performed. Thus, the data found in the indigenous literature and the observations made in the field, recorded in the diary, were correlated with representative theoretical referenc es of critical EE. It was possible to notice that the activities of the Pataxó Indigenous School of the Jaqueira Reserve have characteristics of critical EE in most of its actions inside and outside the classroom, characterized as emancipatory. However, it was also clear that these actions precede the concepts of critical EA. The socio-educational actions carried out at the school constantly bring up socio-environmental and cultural issues in the activities, fostering a critical discourse for the strengthening and permanence of indigenous culture, explaining and debating issues such as environmental management, plant recognition, Pataxó graphics, use of natural materials, strengthening the people through costumes and rituals, storytelling, music, teaching the Patxohã (Pataxó language), maintaining the culture and the group through teaching pass ed from generation to generation, among many other means that characterize the teaching of the school as a fostering the development of sustainable societies.