In partnership with the Campinas City Council, Unicamp's Faculty of Education (FE) launched on Tuesday (21), the Center for African and Afro-Brazilian Studies. The Center aims to bring together and articulate researchers, students, teachers and social movements around the studies of racial issues and African and Afro-Brazilian History. The event was held in the FE main hall and was attended by the rector Marcelo Knobel; councilors Carlão (PT) and Mariana Conti (PSol); FE teachers Angela Soligo and Debora Massa; the representative of the Municipal Department of Education, Monica Queiroz; as well as representatives of the black movement from inside and outside the University.
The initiative is the result of a partnership between FE and the Special Commission for Studies on Law 10.639/03, which makes the teaching of Afro-Brazilian and African history and culture mandatory in all schools, public and private, from elementary school to the high school,.
According to Ângela Soligo, an initial survey carried out at the Commission's request identified gaps in the training of educators. “Teachers claimed that they did not study African history during their undergraduate or postgraduate studies. We understood, then, that there was a demand,” he said. At the same time, according to her, the group assessed the need for a more intense dialogue between the University and education in the municipality to advance the debate. “The idea of the Center is to bring social movements, educators, to dialogue and produce with us”, she stated.
Soligo also highlighted the interdisciplinary nature of the Center, which aims to bring together the different areas of the University that work on the subject, in addition to promoting new coordinated investigations. “Many people already do research related to the topic at university, but each one in their own part. The center has the perspective of aggregating, congregating, producing interdisciplinary projects, of being a space to promote research, extension and relationships with the community”, explained the professor.
For the councilor, Carlão, who chairs the Commission, the Center will allow society to take ownership of what is produced at the University. “It will serve to bring down this mythwhat ofe University does not talk to society”, scored. According to him, the Center will be able to “build the true Afro-Brazilian history”. “For us in the black movement, it is another tool to make the narrative of people of African descent here in Brazil heard, so that we can tell the true story of the contribution of black men and women to the construction of Brazilian citizenship”, he highlighted.
For the rector, the initiative is in line with the affirmative actions underway at Unicamp and should play an important role in dialogue with society. “The expectations are the best possible. Afro-Brazilian studies are fundamental. It is important that we confirm the University’s commitment to the issue,” he said.
