Interview with Katherine Blouin. Ancient History beyond Eurocentrism: Indigenizing Teaching and Research

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Uiran Gebara da
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Frizzo, Fabio, Gontijo Leite, Priscilla
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista história hoje
• Texto Completo: https://rhhj.anpuh.org/RHHJ/article/view/1075

This interview is part of the Special Issue entitled Antiquity in HistoricalCulture: School and Public Experiences for the Journal História Hoje. ThisSpecial Issue is motivated, on the one had, by recent developments in Brazilianbasic education – the establishment of a unified national curriculum and thereformation of Brazilian High School, which reconfigured the Humanitiesdisciplines in a transversal organization –, on the other, by the progression ofthe research on the teaching of Ancient History.Brazilian Higher Education system was greatly influenced by the Frenchmodel, and in this context, the field of History was particularly dependent onFrench practices of research and teaching History before the recent impositionof the Anglo-Saxon language and patterns of research.To become a History Teacher for students from 11 to 17 years, the personmust have graduated in History, an undergraduate degree with at leastfour years. The degrees in History are composed by disciplines divided oftenin three groups: first, disciplines presenting past societies historical processesand events organized around the quadripartite chronological timeline(Antiquity, Middle Ages, Modern Age, Contemporary Age); second, disciplineson Theory and Methodology of History; third, disciplines on History teaching, which take a larger part of the curriculum for those that opt for“Licenciatura” (a major in History teaching). In this model, the courses oftenhave 1 or 2 disciplines on Ancient History, usually focused on “ClassicalAntiquity” or “Greco-Roman Civilization”. The specialization in AncientHistory happens only at the post-graduation, where masters and doctors areformed, researching exclusively Antiquity.In Brazilian Higher Education, “Classics” is a term often restricted toLanguages and Literature graduation courses specialized in Greek or Latin.The History students that wish to improve their formation often supplementit by taking disciplines from Classics (Language and Literature), ClassicalPhilosophy and (more rarely) Ancient Archaeology. The conversation betweenHistory, Classical Languages and Literature, Classical Philosophy andAncient Archaeology is effective, but the departmentalization of the field inBrazil restricts the professional practice to their original fields.