“Para honra da Instrução Pública de Sergipe”: o jornal escolar O Estudante e a implantação da modernidade pedagógica em Vilanova/SE (1932-1939)

Abstract

This research focuses on the student newspaper O Estudante, a news organ of the Grupo Escolar Olímpio Campos, located in the town of Vilanova, Sergipe. The analyzed corpus comprises 14 editions of the school newspaper published between 1932 and 1939. The general objective of this study is to understand O Estudante as an instrument for disseminating and shaping pedagogical practices considered modern, which were developed within the Grupo Escolar Olímpio Campos (GEOC). Furthermore, this research seeks to identify within the texts published in O Estudante the values, norms, and projects aligned with principles inspired by the New School Movement (Movimento Escola Nova). These principles were transmitted by the GEOC, embodied by its principal, Father Artur Passos, to the institution's students. Methodologically, the study relies on the analysis of the 14 editions of the school newspaper, alongside various correspondences, official letters, receipts, commercial newspapers, and documents regarding the First Exhibition of the School Press of Brazil, organized by the Sociedade dos Amigos de Alberto Torres in Rio de Janeiro. These materials were located at the Historical and Geographical Institute of Sergipe, within the personal archive of Epifânio Dória. Theoretically, this research draws on Pierre Bourdieu to analyze the symbolic and political capital accumulated by Artur Passos. In analyzing the newspaper's materiality, the concept of strategy, based on Michel de Certeau, was employed to understand the tactics used by the GEOC principal to promote O Estudante both inside and outside Vilanova/SE. The categories of circulation and newspaper representativeness were anchored in Roger Chartier to observe how newspapers contribute to societies organizing their reading practices as they become literate, facilitating the circulation of periodicals, allowing them to travel faster through cities, and creating a bond among readers.