New indigenous students at Unicamp were welcomed with a surprise on Monday afternoon (17). At an event held at Casa do Lago, on the Barão Geraldo campus in Campinas, a group of 73 freshmen received traditional indigenous drinks and food, prepared by veterans, in the kitchens of the School of Food Engineering (FEA).
On the menu, mujeca – a fish porridge (usually tambaqui) very common in the Amazon region –, cooked plantain and cassava, farofa, cornmeal cake and regional fruits, as well as cajá and açaí juices and caiçuma – a fermented drink made with cassava and traditionally prepared by indigenous peoples of the Amazon.
“In our case, we make [caiçuma] with white cassava, but we didn’t have any here. So we made it with yellow cassava,” said social sciences student Lucas Quirino, who is responsible for preparing the drink and asked to be called Lucas Tikuna – a way, he said, of highlighting his Tikuna origins, one of the most numerous peoples in the Brazilian Amazon.
The lavish table, which was also prepared with the help of public administration student Shayane Cavalcanti, was part of the program to welcome new indigenous students to Unicamp. The event, which also included a discussion group led by representatives of indigenous groups, ended in the late afternoon with traditional rituals, including songs and dances promoting the idea of spirituality and reaffirming ancestral indigenous culture.
Students who entered Unicamp this year will embark on a new educational path model. With the entry into force of the Intercultural Training Program for Students Entering through the Indigenous Entrance Exam (Profiivi), students will only begin the undergraduate courses they have passed after completing and being qualified by the program.
Profiivi will last two semesters during which students will study subjects in four areas: arts; biological sciences and health professions; human sciences; and exact, technological and earth sciences.
“This is a training course,” says program coordinator Artionka Capiberibe, a professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH). According to Capiberibe, there will be a core of common subjects for all new students and another core made up of subjects specific to each course.
Until last year, indigenous students were also taking preparatory courses, but they had to complete at least one subject from the course they had enrolled in. Starting this year, they must dedicate themselves exclusively to Profiivi.
Capiberibe says that the new program was created after consultation and discussions in all the University units. In addition, he says, the development of this program received input from indigenous students, who participated directly in the process of building the model.
“My partners in the coordination, professors Priscilla Efraim and Fernanda Surita, and I recognize that this process allowed Unicamp to understand that indigenous people’s continued presence was an issue that involved the entire University. And this understanding guaranteed eight positions for hiring teachers,” he said.
Capiberibe says that Profiivi was created with the intention of taking advantage of the knowledge brought by the indigenous people. “In the second semester, they will have a subject called Intercultural Epistemologies, which will be taught by masters of traditional knowledge, experts, who do not necessarily have PhDs. And we, at Unicamp, want to absorb this knowledge. Because we understand that they come here loaded with knowledge that the University does not have”, he argues.
Transformative experiences
Kelvin Rudnik, 19, is coming from São Gabriel da Cachoeira, in Amazonas, and is about to start his philosophy course at Unicamp. Having settled in the student housing for just over two weeks, Rudnik said he is having an experience of exchange. “I lived in my city in a kind of bubble. I came to Unicamp and I am having totally new experiences, truly transformative for me. And it has been very good. In fact, I learn from them and they learn from me,” he said.
Prisciane Silva Lopes, from the Baré ethnic group, came from Santa Isabel do Rio Negro, also in Amazonas. After trying to get in last year, Lopes managed to pass the entrance exam this year and now wants to specialize in environmental sanitation technology. The idea is to be able to apply her knowledge when she returns to her community. “We don’t have the basics there,” she explained.
Professor Flávio Luis Schimidt, from the Office of the Vice-Rector for Undergraduate Studies (PRG), issued a warning to new students. “It is very important that you seize this opportunity. Don’t let time slip away and study with determination,” he warned.
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