A desnacionalização do ensino primário brasileiro: o programa de assistência brasileiro-americana ao ensino elementar e seu impacto no Rio Grande do Norte (1956-1964)

Abstract

This thesis to analyze the power dynamics through the Brazilian-American Assistance Program for Elementary Education (PABAEE) in accordance with the Cooperation Agreement signed between Brazil and the United States during the government of Juscelino Kubitschek, in the period from 1956 to 1964, with focus in its institutionalization, implementation and internalization. It is argued, as this argument is, that PABAEE reflects a technical cooperation effort and, at the same time, represents a way of exercising cultural and ideological influence. This initiative strengthens the ties between the two countries and promotes the dissemination of culture and two American values in the Brazilian, regional and local educational context. By this Program, there is an imposition of the American educational vision, without considering the particularities and national cultural diversities, to the detriment of strengthening a genuinely Brazilian pedagogical approach in development. Based on our research objectives, four (4) categories of analysis were defined, in accordance with Foucault (2023) and Franco and Araújo (2018), namely, power dynamics; endurance; capillarity of power; e, internalization policies. The interpretation of the systematized data was conducted using the discourse analysis proposed by Foucault (1996). According to this author, the discourse is not just a manifestation of ideas, it is a field of struggles, desires and powers that reveal the complex dynamics of society and the construction of knowledge. It is shaped by structures and norms that reflect relationships of power and control, influencing its content, as well as detaining the power to falter, be heard and determine truth, thus making it non-neutral. It is confirmed that, once we conclude the PABAEE courses, the teachers and primary regents of Rio Grande do Norte and Seridó become multiplying agents of American pedagogy in the state, playing an active role in the dissemination of the practices and approaches learned by themselves training in courses for teachers in training and courses for teachers in service.