O Movimento de Educação de Base (MEB) no contexto histórico do sul paraense – 1962 – 1985

Abstract

This study is situated in the field of History of Education and analyzes a historical construction of educational practices developed by the Basic Education Movement (MEB) in the social, political and economic context of the southern region of the state of Pará, in the time frame from 1962 to 1985. To achieve this, I seek to historicize the legal, political and cultural milestones that marked its trajectory in the national territory, discuss the historical evidence of the educational practices developed by the MEB and its radio schools in the context of agrarian conflicts in the south of the Amazon of Pará, in the municipality of Conceição do Araguaia. In addition to problematizing how the educational model proposed by the MEB had repercussions on the organization of social movements in this region. To this end, I conducted a survey on the academic productions on the subject, when I found that the number of completed master’s dissertations and doctoral theses is quite small, considering the historical relevance of the Movement. The research has a qualitative approach. It starts from cultural history (Burker (2005); Le Goff (2013), to interpret the socio-educational and political context of educational practices developed by the MEB under the coordination of the Diocese of Conceição do Araguaia theoretically based on Certeau (2014, 2020) in order to analyze, in everyday practices, the spaces and tactics employed by the MEB of Conceição do Araguaia, and, also, based on the perspective of cultural representations and appropriations advocated by Chartier (2017, 2002). Methodologically, the study was based on the Thematic Oral History responsible for occupying the centrality of the path, for understanding the reports of the educators, their experiences and interpretations about the MEB, supported by theoretical contribution of Alberti (2005), Meihy (2005), Delgado (2010, 2003), Portelli (2016, 2004). The results indicate that, from the first experiences of the MEB Radio Schools, started in the Diocese of Natal, in 1961, the national team spared no effort to maintain a unique identity for Movement. However, over the years, the MEB became the sum of the experiences of the teams that composed it, in the various regions of the country. The experiences built by the religious and lay people who formed the group of educators/supervisors of the MEB, in the southern region of Pará, with their emancipatory educational practices of the Movement, produced by a concrete action that had repercussions on the thought, dialogue and participation of the subjects in the various territorialities and the identities forged in this action, were interpreted by the Civil Military Government as subversive acts, causing strong repression to its agents (priest, nuns and the laity). In Conceição do Araguaia, from its creation in 1962 until 1985, the MEB underwent profound transformations in its educational practices, such as schooling, the mobilization of social and popular movements and the provision of advice, which made it possible to challenge the established order and resist the impositions of the civil-military power that dominated that period. The Church-State-MEB tripod is intrinsically related to the origin of the Movement and in the political, social and economic contexts in which it developed its practice and built its history. Between 1962 and 1985, the educational practices of the MEB were important for the democratization of knowledge and the awareness of rural communities in the region under study. Group experiences and support for the formation of rural trade unions provided collaborative approaches that allowed rural men and women to share experiences, strengthening their critical capacity and their demands against the power structures of the state and the latifundium. By strengthening rural movements, MEB was an agent of resistance against the established social order.