Professores índios e transformações socioculturais em um cenário multiétnico: a reserva indígena de Dourados (1960-2005)

Abstract

By the end of the 1980s, there was a high increase of Indian teachers taking part in the process of teaching in Indian schools in Brazil. In the Indian Reserve of Dourados the presence of Indian teachers acting in the process of education is noticed way before. This work analyses under a multi discipline perspective the specificity of Indian teachers in the multi ethnic scenario of the Indian Reserve of Dourados (1960-2005). With the insertion in the process of Indian school education, while teachers, the Indians assume new social roles and therefore become agents of social cultural transformations. In the Indian Reserve of Dourados, this process has its own single history due to historical, social, cultural and ethnic context in which these teachers take part. Since its beginning (the 20s), this reserve is marked by the complexity of established relations among its inhabitants Kaiowá, Guarani and Terena and non-indian representatives of diverse external institutions involved. In this context, the Indian teachers face a constant challenge of being “in-between” (in an among-place) and participate in an inter-social political field where the perspective of different groups (politic, ethnic and family) and the institutions around are constantly intercrossing. This brings to school and to Indian teachers new challenges not always easy to live with. Nonetheless, these social actors have tried to give answers to these challenges, and in this way take part in the building of their history and the history of the Indian reserve of Dourados.