Alfabetização estética, discurso imagético e o ensino de história: a construção do projeto de identidade nacional brasileira e o desenvolvimento da atitude historiadora a partir de obras de artes plásticas do século XIX

Abstract

This research aims to contribute to the teaching of History by assisting 8th grade Elementary School teachers in relation to visual language, as provided for in General Competency 4 of the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC). The study focuses on aesthetic literacy so that works of art can be better explored in the classroom, and can be used as historical sources and anchoring materials for discourse, loaded with intentions in the service of power relations. A work of art is always a saying. And because it is a saying, it can serve countless purposes. As for us, History teachers, we need to be prepared to decipher the meanings and discursive intentions of these images and use them as an instrument for developing the “historian attitude” in our students. The question that drives this research is what would be the discourse and knowledge about the project of constructing the Brazilian national identity materialized in the visual works of art of the 19th century and how reading these works is capable of developing the attitude of a historian in 8th grade students. The broader objective of this research is to investigate how the construction of the feeling of belonging to the ideal of the Brazilian nation took place, based on the reading of visual works of art (paintings) of the 19th century, highlighting what was the discourse materialized in them, in addition to demonstrating that this proposal serves the development of the significant attitude of a historian as advocated by the BNCC. More specifically, we propose to make History teachers and students aware of the technical conditions for them to read and understand their own signs and what is beyond them as well. It is also expected that History teachers can use images more effectively, both as a pedagogical resource in teaching and as historical sources, valuable for understanding the theme. The theoretical analysis of this work dialogues with the concepts of “visual syntax” by Dondis (2015), “aesthetic education” by Schlichta (2006), “discourse analysis” by Foucault (2014) and “historian attitude” by Mauad (2018), among others. As for the methodology, we used a qualitative approach, very close to the Workshop Class model developed by Barca (2004), which undoubtedly has great pedagogical potential. The workshop classes, combining theory and practice, aim to develop image reading and historical understanding skills, based on 5 Brazilian works of art from the 19th century. We hope that this image reading skill will allow History teachers to use images more appropriately, whether as a pedagogical tool in teaching or as a historical source, useful in understanding the process of constructing historical knowledge and capable of developing the historian attitude in students.