Radical Pedagogies

Introduction

Radical Pedagogies are educational praxis that value the ancestral knowledge of original Brazilian populations, such as those from Indigenous people and quilombolas who historically resisted colonialism and imperialism. Radical Pedagogies comprehend notions of belonging, recognition of a positive ethnic-racial identity, circularity, ancestry, and acceptance. This section will share values and principles that offer a base for radical pedagogies.

Values 

Here, we carefully scrutinise attempts to homogenise marginalised groups often represented as if there were no complexity, difference and particular nuances within and between the collectives. Thinking that groups such as the quilombolas are homogeneous is a practice of whitewashing. This term explains the formation and naturalisation of epistemicides and genocides of this population. Whitewashing is also present in forms of cultural appropriation and stereotyping of such groups, being adopted many times in academic practices in research and teaching. In this sense, the values presented below represent similarities in their contrasts, dissonances and particularities between the dialogues between spaces and people in quilombos, in educational activism, collectives and academic spaces with an anti-racist purpose. From our dialogue, we collectively agreed that basic values for radical pedagogies are as follows, with the reminder that it is an ongoing change and negotiation and seeks more contributions from transnational-ubuntu solidarity grounds:

• Feelings and emotions
• Self-reflection teaching strategies: action-reflection practice
• Active listening (self-listening and listening to others)
• Self-consciousness 
• Educating for conscious awareness
• Creating nuances in expectations of time-space of learning (where to learn? How to learn? When to learn? At what age to learn?) to tackle different forms of discrimination such as racism, sexism, ageism, ableism among other isms that harm educational experiences
• Openness to change (attitude)

Buen Vivir

Terminology from the Latin American Indigenous people, which means to live in abundance, in fullness. It expresses the idea of interconnectedness between humans and Nature, which is regarded as Pachamama or Mother Earth. It also includes the notion of respect for the whole biosphere. Well-living is also known as sumak kawsay in the indigenous language of Quechua; suma qamanã, in Aimaran (another indigenous language); or teko porã, in Guarani. Moreover, this concept translates into a community-based, social and solidarity way of life. It is a different approach to social organisation in where the colonial logic coloniality of power (Quijano, 2000) is not a reference. According to Eduardo Gudynas, a crucial element of well-iving is that well-living is that it is only achieved collectively.

Experiences In and With Nature

Connects to the concept of buen vivir (living-well). According to this perspective, everything surrounding us has vitality or vital force. Therefore, we must aim to live harmoniously and respectfully with everything and everybody.  

Ubuntu philosophy

Originating from an African heritage, it conveys the idea of  "I am with others" or "I am because of others." The word is a combination of ubu and ntu. Ubu means to exist, to be, while ntu expresses the idea of being by doing and movement (Ramose, 1999). Ubuntu humanises all phenomena, including educational ones.

This philosophy became popular through a famous narrative of a European anthropologist visiting an African community who was surprised by its children's reaction. The children preferred to share an award he gave to them instead of competing against each other. Ubuntu: "how can one be happy while others are sad?"

Ubuntu broadly comprehends "new ways of being in the world" (Santos e Menezes, 2010). It is a kind of 'philosophy of us', a collective ethical consciousness whose meaning is to connect with life, nature, the divine and other humans. Caring about others, solidarity, and sharing life are fundamental principles of this ethic. (Nascimento, 2014). It expresses the idea that "we share everything around us"(Noguera, 2011).