O sagrado Afro-brasileiro na aula de sociologia para jovens e adultos privados de liberdade.

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes how the teaching of Afro-Brazilian history and culture, considering Afro-Brazilian religiosities as cultural expressions, can contribute to addressing religious racism in Youth and Adult Education within the prison context. The research was conducted at Paulo Freire State Elementary and High School, located inside the Raimundo Asfora Regional Penitentiary of Campina Grande, in Campina Grande, Paraíba (Brazil)., using a qualitative approach and pedagogical intervention. The study draws on Freire, Caputo, Prandi, Munanga, Nogueira, and Bourdieu, articulating prison education, Afro-Brazilian epistemologies, and ethnic-racial relations. The pedagogical intervention consisted of screening the documentary O fio da memória (Coutinho, 1991), followed by culture circles inspired by Freire’s pedagogy, in which students problematized religious racism and connected the content to their own experiences. The corpus of analysis was composed of written texts produced at the end of the intervention and field notes recorded throughout the process. The qualitative analysis revealed significant shifts in students’ perceptions, such as the replacement of prejudiced discourses with more critical interpretations of Black presence in Brazil and its cultural expressions. The results indicate that the teaching of Sociology—when guided by a critical, dialogical, and antiracist perspective—can transform the prison classroom into a space of awareness, symbolic reconstruction, and affirmation of Afro-Brazilian identities within the school curriculum.