Água que limpa e protege: uma história cultural da água nos saberes indígenas Pankararu.

Abstract

Appropriated by several speeches throughout history and represented by multiple social configurations, water constitutes also the way how the subjects see and understand themselves in the world. In this sense, this work analyses educational practices arising from the conception of water in indigenous cultural knowledge, specifically in two public Pankararu schools, Dr. Carlos Estêvão e Pankararu Ezequiel, located at Brejo dos Padres on Pernambuco state, between 2002 and 2019. Through a sensory education, we dialog with several authors, between then Sandra Pesavento (2003) and Gaston Bachelard (1989). We also used the experience concept of Jorge Larrosa Bondía (2016) and Roger Chartier’s (1990) notions of appropriation and representation, in addition Clifford Geertz (2008) to discuss the understanding of interpretation and culture. The theoretical dialog sharpened our view to feel the water as a cultural element that educates the Pankararu people. The theme of this research and the theoretical support chosen point to our place of speech: the Cultural History, that allow us to think/problematize how a mineral – the water – historically provoke or fills the indigenous school imaginary, their daily survival (drink and eat), their healing rituals (medicines and baths) and their spiritual practices. Methodologically we utilized the document analysis guiding us by discussing the document’s monumentalization from Le Goff (1990). We also conducted interviews with teachers from the two schools surveyed, who teach the subjects of History, Geography, Science and Indigenous Education. Among the sources used are the current indigenous educational policies, the political pedagogical project of the Pankararu Schools and the didactic and paradidactic books, as well as imagery sources, through drawings created by the students (from the 6th to the 9th grade of Elementary School) about water. We conclude that the waters are appropriated by the Pankararu people as a source of life and represent a sacred element that raise sensitivities and perceptions, keep memories and stories, listening and speeches that educate the senses and populate the social imaginary in a relationship of coexistence and care for nature, a notion that runs through the dialogue with the ecological paradigm.