Radical Pedagogies

Introduction

Radical Pedagogies from the South: Building Transnational Solidarity in the UK and Brazil Nexus is a knowledge exchange project to discuss 'radical pedagogies' between the UK and Brazil. The project entails a series of workshops, visits, and other educational activities involving academics, students, activists from traditional communities, and the civil society to discuss decolonial pedagogical practices. These actions are organised to raise awareness of anti-racist educational practices, encourage collective dialogues to discuss emancipatory teaching-learning strategies and develop a collaborative network.  

The project acknowledges the urgency to confront colonial narratives and create new educational possibilities to dismantle white supremacist educational structures. In Brazil, the lack of educational access is one of the leading indicators of social inequality, with the Northern areas being the most affected. Historically, these regions were and still are occupied by traditional populations, such as Indigenous and quilombolas, whose knowledge has been consistently disregarded and overlooked. 

By re-centring marginalised knowledge, quilombo communities and Higher Education Institutions from Brazil and the UK unite to disentangle hierarchies of power as part of colonial education systems and exchange experiences of how 'radical pedagogies' can be defined in our praxis. We are promoting an epistemological debate that challenges the hegemony of Eurocentric, Western thought with the dialogical activities organised in Northern Brazil and the UK. 

In the UK, a workshop from 18-20 July 2022 at the University of Edinburgh involved the academic and local community, enhancing dialogue between different standpoints. This activity was followed by fieldwork in Sergipe: one event from 22 – 26 August at the Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS) and exchanges of experiences in the Quilombo Brejão dos Negros and Quilombo Mocambo. Finally, in Maranhão, the fieldwork started with a visit to Quilombo da Liberdade in the city of São Luís and a three-days seminar from 30 August – 1 September at Universidade Federal do Maranhão (UFMA). 

This project is the result of a co-creation between Dr Gabriela Loureiro and Dr Katucha Bento, both lecturers from the University of Edinburgh, alongside Dr Edineia Lopes (Universidade of Sergipe) and Dr Raimunda Machado (Universidade do Maranhão).