Cosmopolitics and the teaching of history in contrast to the Minas Gerais Reference Curriculum

Abstract

From a cosmopolitical perspective, this essay investigates possibilities for transforming the teaching of History through the critical integration of the Brazilian National Common Core Curriculum (BNCC) and the Curriculum of Minas Gerais, with the aim of breaking away from traditional narratives and opening space for new ways of thinking about and teaching the discipline. Although structured under a normative and centralizing logic, the BNCC, published in 2018, contains fissures that allow for the inclusion of critical approaches in which Indigenous, Afro-Brazilian, and ecological knowledges are mobilized as counterpoints to Eurocentric historical narratives. We present practical proposals aimed at basic education that seek to deconstruct the linear and Eurocentric chronology traditionally present in History teaching, valuing instead multiple forms of temporality, such as those originating from Indigenous cultures, Afro-Brazilian traditions, and ecological relations. In this context, we propose interactive practices that employ oral narratives, attentive listening, and sensory experimentation in order to bring students closer to different ways of existing and knowing the world. Through the teaching of History, the goal is for students to understand historical events not as single and closed accounts, but as constructions in constant dispute, where human and more-than-human voices intertwine, enabling a more inclusive, critical, and transformative form of education.