A universidade federal do Amazonas e o acesso dos povos indígenas ao ensino superior: desafios da construção de uma política institucional.

Abstract

The research project which resulted in the present master‟s dissertation searched out readings and analyses of documents referring to initiatives of the Federal University of [the State of] Amazonas (UFAM) aimed at providing assess of indigenes peoples to university-level teaching – in order to build up an institution memory of responses offered by this Institution of Higher Teaching (IES) in the face of new educational demands of indigenous peoples, identifying the principal challenges to be met in the sense of the consolidation of a political institution. Characterized as document- research, the methodological approach of this work sought to respond to this central objective. The dissertation is thus organized: Introduction; the place, together with the justification of the theme, are made explicit as are motivations and also the trajectory of the research (and of the author); there follow four Chapters and Final Considerations. Chapter one treats of the theme of affirmative political policies, relating it to the problematic of cultural diversity and of the so called “right to be different”, in the light of actual legislation. Chapter 2 schematizes the multi-cultural perspective and its implications in education and sketches a proposal of intercultural formation and its challenges. Chapter 3 brings up the expectations and claims of the indigenous movement before the challenge of assess to superior education, treating of the reflections and positions of the Indigenous Students of Amazonas and of the Council of Indigenous Professors of Brazilian Amazonia. It also includes a synthesis of the discussions realized by Brazilian IESs, focalizing on two national meetings which are references in this debate, both of which occurred in 2004: The First International Conference on Indigenous Superior Teaching, which took place in Bara do Bugres, and the Seminary on Challenges to Superior Education for indigenes peoples in Brazil, which took place in Brasilia and which was organized by the Trilhas Project of Knowing, of the National Museum/UFRJ. Chapter 4 systematizes and analyses the data collected in reference to the different initiatives of UFAM. The Final Considerations contain a reflection on the challenges to the elaboration of an institutional political policy for assess and permanence of indigenous people in the university, pointing out the absence of records and of evaluation of the experiences realized as also of the necessity of an intercultural alphabetization and of an inclusion which modifies the university structures. It also signals the importance of a sharing protagonist roles – indigenous peoples and the University – and of the exercise of an intercultural dialogue so that, in fact, the UFAM can affirm itself ever more as an Amazonian University – where different “knowings” can dialogue and enrich each other.