Social meanings of brazilian education under a decolonial perspective

Abstract

This article presents the social meanings of formal education under a decolonial perspective based on the concept of coloniality of power, proposing an update to the concept for the Brazilian context.  This implies thinking Brazilian education considering the racial issues as structing social inequalities since colonial times. Luso-Hispanic colonization, which was characterized by the exploitation and genocide of native people, the expropriation from their lands, and the kidnapping of Africans for slave work in those lands, can be considered as the main example of the distinctive marks that can distinguish the social meanings of Latin-American education from the European ones. This is due to the specific structuring factors to which different continents were submitted, leading to gaps on the social meanings of education when these are analyzed without considering those differences. We used a literature review methodology to conclude that, since colonial times, the separation between private and public school already pointed to a deeper social inequality, involving economic and racial issues.