Interculturality and indigenous childhood in the urban context: conceptions of a group of Early Childhood Education teachers

Abstract

This article aims to report the experiences and studies carried out in the first stage of the extension project Childhood, Interculturality, and Ethnomathematics in Early Childhood Education: the care of indigenous children promoted by the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), Campus of Naviraí, in the year 2018. It was chosen as a theoretical framework: documents and scientific productions on the themes of interculturality in education and elements of the history and culture of the Kaiowá and Guarani ethnic groups living in Mato Grosso do Sul (MS). The production of data starts from information obtained through responses to a questionnaire, with open and closed questions, developed with a group of teachers from the municipal network of local education, who were the target audience of the extension action. The information initially collected by this instrument allowed making both quantitative and qualitative inferences. In the context of the course meetings, it was possible to evidence data for understanding, specifically, on behavioral and relational processes between teachers and indigenous children enrolled in Early Childhood Education. The information obtained and presented in this article details impressions of a multicultural environment, reflective exercise on the issue of caring for indigenous children in the urban educational context. Given the data and results of the experience on the agenda, we concluded in defense of the need for investments in in-depth studies on the issue and raised the importance of considering hybrid culture as a way to avoid acculturation of indigenous childhood.