O conceito de cidade nos livros didáticos de ciências humanas e sociais aplicadas: um olhar sobre os impactos da reforma do ensino médio.

Abstract

This study analyzes how the concept of the city is addressed in the textbooks of Human and Social Applied Sciences (HSAS), emphasizing the analysis of the content present in the teaching materials, and how this content is shaped to persuade either a comprehensive or dichotomous understanding of the city. Understanding the city provides knowledge of the social, economic, and cultural dynamics and contradictions that shape urban space and, consequently, the lived space of the student, even if they reside in rural areas. In this perspective, the general objective of this study is to investigate how the city is presented, either comprehensively, superficially, or even as nonexistent, through the high school reform, in two collections approved by the National Textbook Program (PNLD) of 2021, i.e., after the reform. To achieve this, the research was predominantly qualitative, divided into three stages. First, a bibliographical research aimed at understanding the multiple conceptions of the concept of the city by various authors throughout history, both in the past and contemporarily, and how textbooks have been addressed over time by authors and scholars in the field. Secondly, a documentary research aimed at investigating the impacts of Law No. 13,415/2017 (New High School) and the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) on textbooks and Brazilian education, respectively, and the neoliberal discourse embedded in the changes made. Lastly, content analysis based on Bardin (1977) was conducted to understand how the concept of the city is approached in HSAS textbooks, whether in a comprehensive, superficial, or nonexistent manner. As a result, we identified that, due to the lack of autonomy of Geography in the NEM, which is placed within a broad area of knowledge, the teaching of the city and its concept was significantly compromised, becoming superficial and even nonexistent. Its generalization is significant in social studies, hindering its comprehensive approach with the aim of forming conscious and engaged citizens. Finally, it is essential that new proposals be put forward with the aim of revoking the NEM so that Geography, in alignment with other social disciplines, may regain its proper independence, promoting the construction of knowledge and the emancipation of individuals, in opposition to an idea that encourages individuals to become mere labor for future work.