A performance by the trio Forró Cremoso – composed of students from the Institute of Arts (IA) – opened this Monday (8) the third edition of the Science & Art Povos da Amazônia (Capam) program, which arose from a partnership between Unicamp, the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) and Banco Santander.
Capam aims to enable contact between indigenous, quilombola, riverside and extractive students from UFPA with professors, researchers and students from Unicamp. This year, the program has 20 visiting students, who will participate in scientific projects and workshops for a period of one month.
See the schedule of courses and workshops.
At the opening ceremony, the Vice-Dean of Research and acting dean, Professor João Marcos Travassos Romano, said that the agreement will be renewed for a period of another five years and that the number of participants should be increased to 26.
Romano stated that both Unicamp and UFPA have improved their inclusion systems and reinforced the need to improve student retention mechanisms.
“Someone has already said that inclusion is inviting someone to the party and that permanence is inviting that person to dance”, he compared.
According to the acting dean, Unicamp also wants to do the opposite and take students and researchers from the São Paulo institution to UFPA, in order to exchange experiences with colleagues from that federal university.
Pro-Rector of Research and Postgraduate Studies at UFPA, Professor Maria Iracilda da Cunha Sampaio said that the program reaffirms the Pará institution's intention to promote inclusion. “UFPA has had inclusion programs for over a decade. We are an institution committed to inclusion. More than 80% of our students belong to less advantaged social classes,” she says.
The commercial manager of Santander Universities, César Torini, thanked the students and universities for the trust placed in the program. “We [at Satander] will continue renewing the project and thank you all very much for considering the bank as a partner in this beautiful program,” he said.
UFPA students
Fifth semester psychology student, riverside and quilombola Thais Vilhena Costa said that she will participate in the program with the expectation of learning and teaching. “I want to add experiences and also bring here a little knowledge of Pará and its culture. For me, this experience must be an exchange of knowledge, without that character of greater knowledge or lesser knowledge, without a relationship of power”, said she, who belongs to the Umarizal quilombo, located on the left arm of the Tocantins River.
“This is the first time I have left Pará. Today I spoke to my mother and she showed me a photo saying that I was the first granddaughter in the family to leave there. Therefore, this is a memorable moment not only for me, but also for my ancestry”, said Costa.
Also a quilombola, Thiago da Silva Conceição, 22 years old, who is studying Law at UFPA, says he arrived to participate in the program with the aim of improving research on populations, which he is already carrying out.
“Furthermore, it is about occupying spaces that have historically been denied to us, black people, quilombolas, indigenous people. Because it is ours, by right, to occupy these spaces that were not idealized or designed for people like us. Therefore, being in this space now is a sign of rebellion”, he assesses.
Fourth semester psychology student, indigenous Auriene Arapium said she was excited about the opportunity to participate in the program. According to her, the experience will be important for the work she is already doing in the area of mental health. “For us, the people of the Amazon, historically invisible, this type of initiative is crucial”, says the member of the Arapium ethnic group. “This should be more frequent”, warns the student, originally from São Pedro do Muruci, in the municipality of Santarém (PA), in the lower Tapajós region.
“Your presence here will change our University for the better”, said Unicamp’s dean of Undergraduate Studies, professor Ivan Toro. “Every opportunity we have to learn from the Amazonian peoples must be taken advantage of,” he added.
Professor Marco Aurélio Cremasco, who represented Unicamp's Dean of Extension and Culture at the ceremony, Fernando Coelho, said that students must “think outside the box” and seek innovative solutions to the problems faced today. And he made a warning: “We depend on you. We want to learn from you.”
