Partners Trip Report of Dr. Wardle, from May 17 to June 5th, 2005

 

Section One

This report covers my visit to Uberlandia, MG., Diamantina, MG., Belo Horizonte, MG., and Brasilia, DF. While the official Partners’ travel grant was for the Minas Gerais contacts (since this is my Partner state) I will also include Brasilia because the Brasilia Partners deserve to get recognition for their wonderful hospitality, and because I want to support the idea of cross-chapter visits.

 

Acknowledgements, Thanks and Deep Appreciation

 

I must start this report with my deepest appreciation and thanks to all the wonderful people in Brazil who made this visit so successful!

 

Uberlandia

Simone Ferreira was an absolutely wonderful host! She set up a myriad of interviews, projects and educational opportunities (discussed later), translated for me (and had to suffer my English accent), and helped me understand many aspects of the Brazilian culture. I must also thank her wonderful parents and her brother. Her parents put me – a total stranger – up in their home, fed me, and made me feel at home in a strange town.  Inacio de Loiola Ferreira, Simone’s father, also showed me an interesting project of his, and set up a meeting with a Black councilman. Finally, I must thank all the people who gave me some of their time: the principals, teachers and students at the schools I visited, fellow students of Simone, the people at the NGO, and the professors I met with. And I cannot forget Ildamara, our fearless driver!

 

Diamantina

I must thank Maria, Dr Joao’s wife, Maria Luiza, Maria Teresa, and Diana. This was, of course, a very difficult time, but they still welcomed me into their home, and were as usual so hospitable.

 

Belo Horizonte

I must thank Mario for hosting me in his wonderful “bohemian” apartment, showing me his important work at the university (he recently was seen in the media with President Lula reconditioning an import piece of art from Brasilia), and taking me to Serra do Cipo in his old VW bug! Acyr drove me round town, took me to a beautiful city park, and, with Regina, showed me the various Partners’ projects in Belo. I also enjoyed our coffees and conversations at his house. Regina was Regina: president of Partners, historian, intellectual, and friend. She and Acyr accompanied me to Diamantina to the Mass for Dr. Joao Meira. Heloisa took me to interview an important official involved with the movement for Black racial justice in Minas Gerais. The contact she made will be very important in the future. Despite being “under the weather” Monica allowed me an interview about being a person of mixed-race in Brazil. I had the privilege of meeting Baldonedo in his official office in Belo, and discussing Partners’ business with him. Luckily I was in Belo when Matt Clausen was also there, and had the privilege of spending time with him and talking Partners’ business. Luzia Lisita is the new President for the Minas chapter. We spent time together talking about further projects and current activities in Minas.

 

Brasilia

Appreciation goes to Almerinda for hosting me, setting up a variety of very interesting visits to language schools, university classes and student activities, visiting the new J. Kubitschek Bridge, and teaching me about a variety of educational and cultural issues.

Thanks to Lia for picking me up at the airport (along with Vanessa), driving me around, returning me to the airport, and just being Lia! Gilmar translated for me, conned his brother into taking me to places in Brasilia, and accompanied me on a very interesting visit to a public school in Brasilia.

 

Thanks also to the Washington Staff of Partners who made this whole trip possible.

 

Trip from the US to Belo Horizonte

 

Tuesday, May 17th

 

I left Denver on May 17th, flew to Dallas, then on to Sao Paulo, and finally to Belo Horizonte, by which time it was Wednesday, the 18th.  Sao Paulo airport is an absolute mess! While I just made it to the TAM connection for Belo, the return trip was even worse. Mario and Acyr picked me up at Confins airport, and took me to the Federal University of Minas Gerais.

 

We ate lunch in a shopping canter, and then toured Mario’s work place. Mario took us through each room, showing us the equipment, the restoration process, and students engaged in a variety of restoration efforts. Mario is involved in a Partner project to restore some artwork in Petangui; he also may assist in a project in Diamantina to unearth and preserve some original Baroque music. So this tour was very informative.

 

We then went across the street to visit the university child development center: Centro de Desenvolvimento da Crianca. The center serves children 3 months to 6 years old. The buildings are extremely impressive with a variety of wings and a large metal platform under its own roof. Underneath this platform is a concrete sunken area, like an amphitheatre. One set of steps goes up to the platform, and two slides come down – right onto the concrete. There are several firemen’s poles to slide down, but these have been blocked off, due to past accidents. So this huge piece of equipment is pretty useless.

 

Before we took the tour I inquired about taking photos. This is the only place I visited during my 3-week tour that adamantly said I could not take photos.

 

For the preschool program there is a separate music room, dance study, science lab, library and regular classrooms. The classrooms are all little schoolrooms – even for the toddlers – with small tables or desks and small chairs. There were no art areas, blocks, dress-up areas, or reading corners. It felt very much like small public school classrooms.

 

The building has a central area and three wings. It is a fabulous structure! There are tall ceilings, roof skylights, and neatly cared-for grounds. There are lots of people, including nurses, special education teachers, directors and regular teachers. It felt very much like a regular school. I asked the tour guide what the educational philosophy of the program is. She said it is Vygotsky and Piaget. Unfortunately she was not an educator, but it was very clear to me that this program was not based on Vygotsky or Piaget. Everything appeared to be group oriented, teacher directed, and very “school-like”.

 

That evening I flew from Pampulha Airport in Belo to Uberlandia.

 

Uberlandia

 

Simone Ferreira picked me up at the airport. She was pleasant and polite, and we took a cab to her house, where she lives with her parents and brother. That evening I was awakened by a call from my wife, telling me that Dr. Joao Meira had just died in Diamantina. He died in the early morning hours of June 19th.

 

Thursday, June 19

 

From 7:30 to 10 am I was briefed by Simone regarding the overall itinerary, research focus, classes I would talk to, and other possible options that might develop. She also provided background information on the university, professors, and the schools I would visit. We then took the local bus to the municipal school, Escola Municipal Odilon Custodio Pereira, in a very poor suburb of town. This is a school where Simone and her fellow students from the federal university volunteer their time. I visited the physical education class and talked to the teacher and students; I visited an English class, and talked to the teacher and students, and I interviewed a teacher and the principal. I also observed a special education teacher instructing a disabled adult how to read.

 

Interview of a teacher

There are three sessions a day at this school 7-11, 11 – 3:30, and 3: 30 to 7:55. The total number of students served is 1200. The teacher I interviewed had a degree in Portuguese literature, with additional classes in teaching and planning a curriculum. In response to my questions about discipline, he said that teachers receive no classes in classroom management technique, and little support from the principal and community. When students are troublemakers he asks them to leave. He complained that teachers have to do everything for children in Brazil – that parents do not accept their responsibility.

           

He said the salary is so low that teachers must find other ways to make money. He blamed almost all the problems of Brazil, including poor public education, on the World Bank and the United States. In Brazil’s schools, officially children don’t simply move from grade to grade. They must pass specific requirements before they move on.

           

I talked to an English class. The students were very loud and disorganized, and the teacher seemed more concerned about complaining to me than in helping her students. The federal curriculum requires the teachings of English to all children in public schools in Brazil.

 

Interview with the principal

The principal discussed the very poor funding of the school. The money comes from the federal government, which then sends it to the city. The city in turn funds the school. She said they did no even have enough money for chalk, and the only TV in the school belonged to her.

           

She also discussed the new federal initiative that requires all schools to collect racial data on their students: Negro, white, Indian, Asian, and mixed race. She said that parents were so upset that they asked her to send a letter to the federal education authorities. They were upset because they believe Brazil is a multiracial society where most people cannot honestly select a single racial background.

 

Children at this school were all over the place. The preadolescent girls were especially gregarious and flamboyant. The school seemed to lack a purpose, and the teachers appeared pessimistic and not happy to be there.

 

TV Program

Ironically that night while I was eating dinner at the home of Simone’s parents, I viewed a TV new program from Sao Paulo. This program reported the opposition of parents at a school in Sao Paulo to the new racial census mandates of the federal government. Parents said, “We are a multiracial culture. Why does the government want to classify us by race? We should be classified by ability and performance. This effort will only increase tension between the races.”

 

Friday, May 20th

 

From 8 am to 9:30 am we checked out federal sites on the computer at the university computer lab that address racial issues. Then from 9:30 to 11:30 we met with Dr. Jose Carlos, Teacher of Brazilian Ethnology from the University of Sao Paulo.

 

Interview with Dr. Carlos

According to Dr. Carlos, African slaves that came to the Uberlandia area came from many different regions of Africa. They came with different languages, cultures and customs, so it is not appropriate to look at the current descendents as coming from one race, tribe or culture. He said much of the history of the Blacks in the Uberlandia area is gained through oral histories.

 Mixed-race people in                Brazil

 

1)     European immigrants - Portuguese - who came to Brazil, were often mixed race themselves, having intermarried with the Moors from N. Africa.

2)     Almost all the Portuguese that came to Brazil were men – some married, some not. Many had wives and families back home in Portugal. These Portuguese men had forced sex with African and Indian women. It was already somewhat of a habit in Portugal for Portuguese to have sex with women from Africa.

3)     After the end of slavery – 1888 – mixed-race people tended to marry each other, not Europeans. This, of course, increased the mixtures. It also meant that mixed-race people and Blacks tended to be the poorest people in Brazil.

4)     After 1888 Italians and Germans were encouraged to come to Brazil to provide the hard labor. These new immigrants also mixed with the ex-slaves and Indians, due to proximity and economic class. People of the same economic background tended to mix. Interesting, this is the opposite of what occurred in the US.

 

Brazil excluded many minorities – particularly Blacks and Indians. Because so many people in Brazil are mixed-race, there is the impression of inclusion. Mixed-race (pardo) and Black people are both very poor. Brazil is trying to find the best approach to increase inclusion of people historically kept out. According to Dr. Carlos, the purpose of quotas at the university and elsewhere is to create democracy. Demographic figures, by race are:

           

White – 50%

            Indian –1 %

            Asian – 2%

            Pardo - 35 %

            Black – 10%

 

In Brazil people do not wish to self-identify as Black or Indian, because the do not want to be treated according to these racial labels.

 

Dr Carlos also affirmed my belief that Brazilian schools are very bad. He suggested that one of the problems is that, as the schools try to teach more and more children who lack the academic foundation at home, the schools just get even worse.

 

Interview with Gilberto Neves, aide to the federal representative from Uberlandia

 

This interview occurred in Simone’s parents’ home. The aide was very keen to tell me why the federal representative supports quotas for Backs, and supports other efforts to empower Blacks in Brazilian society. He explained the rationale behind the quotas, and why the federal government pools mixed-race people and Blacks together, calling them people of African descent (45%). He said in Brazil a university education is viewed as the entry point to equality, and therefore quotas for entrance to the university are critical. (Note entrance into Brazilian universities is a very different proposition than entrance into US universities).

 

I kept asking him why there was not a quota for mixed-race people, and he kept insisting that there is – because they are included in the Black-descent group. He also believes:

 

1)     The national debate around quotas is good, because it helps people in Brazil face racism;

2)     “It is only a temporary solution. We need it for about 30-40 years”

 

It is very clear here that Brazil have adopted the American model: affirmative action, particularly at the university level, the use of the one-drop rule to create a larger black population, and a 30-40 year limit (about what we had in this country). What makes no sense, of course, is that the US has always been a highly segregated, single-race society with legal support of the one-drop rule; Brazil has a rich history of supporting mixed-race identity, and does not have the legal or social history of the one-drop rule.

 

Meeting with Students and Teachers from the Social Science Department

 

I met with students and department heads to talk about NGOs, Partners of the Americas, and the difference between multiracial identity in Brasil and the US. The students and teachers were very interested to know about a variety of issues, particularly race in the US. Students were also curious about Partners of the Americans, and how they could establish a subchapter in Uberlandia.

           

This meeting was a very good exchange of ideas, and I corrected many of the misinformation these students have about the US. We also discussed “quotas” in the US and Brazil. One of the students, a leader of a Black Student group, expressed an idea that I heard throughout my trip, that quotas are just our way to get people to recognize that racism exists in Brazil. (Ironically, according to my host, Simone, Brazil has still not come to terms with their history and contemporary reality of institutional and pervasive racism).

 

Meeting with Moises Carlos da Silva (Vereador Xuxa) a Black city councilmen of Uberlandia

 

Simone’s father, Inacio de Loiola Ferreira, set up a meeting for me with Xuxa, a Black city councilman. He used to be a bus driver, and is quite a hero in the Black community in Uberlandia. He is quite a character, and has an entourage! We talked about efforts to employ black people by the city, and to celebrate and support Congada, a Black festival that he is officially very much involved in. He invited me to attend their next presentation, on the weekend.

 

Saturday, May 21, 7-10 am.

 

Visit to the Natural Reserve – a city park. Simone and I toured the city park, a large and beautiful park. We observed burrowing owls, vultures, and other wild birds, coconut palm trees, and a variety of flowering tree – even though it is fall. The park also contains an exhibit of native fish, a variety of birds in captivity, and trees with labels of their Latin and common names. The lake was originally made for fish farming (Uberlandia is a large farming community). I learned a lot about the natural culture of Uberlandia and Brazil.

 

We then visited the city soccer stadium. The person there was very nice, let us in and allowed us to walk around on the field and in the stands.

 

Saturday, May 21. Presentation of the Traingulo Mineiro Social Forum at the University, 1pm – 5pm.

 

Students from the University presented a variety of information and activities for children of parents who were attending a conference for land reform. I attended two of these presentations: the Culture of the Cerrado, and a presentation of research on racism in schools.

 

Presentations about the Culture of the Cerrado

The area surrounding Uberlandia is called the Cerrado, a high plateau area that is now used for farming. It is an area with a distinctive culture and history. The Traingulo Mineiro is an area around Uberlandia. The idea of the presentation was to teach about the diversity of Brazilian natural and cultural backgrounds, and to move away from the idea that the only legitimate cultural heritage is European. The student presentations included:

 

 

The university students seemed very committed to their project, and to teaching the children an important and easily overlooked part of their cultural heritage. The children were all shades of brown, but, as usual, very few were what we in this country would label as black or white.

 

I then attended a presentation by Professor Dr Sandra Leila de Paul and Simone de Loiola Ferreira, entitled, Interpreting Children’s Drawings Using the Sociological Perspective.

This was very fascinating research on children’s perceptions of gender and race, as viewed through the use of their drawings. Unfortunately the presenters did no describe their methodology, and, as a professor of research methodology, this is very important to me! There is also some interesting research in the US that should have been included as background information.

 

The research showed drawings by children of different racial backgrounds, including black, white and mixed-race children. However, they did not say which group the mixed race- kids were placed in. All these children, regardless of race, viewed people in this way:

 

 

According to the presentation, the sociological view is that the family has little impact on the perceptions and attitudes of children; that they succumb to the racist and sexist pressures of society. This is a typical communist view of Brazilian professors. (Note, however, that parents are also products of their society and culture).  That culture drives development. This interpretation does not consider developmental issues (a developmental view); it is very similar to the multicultural view expressed in the US, which is highly influenced by sociology and racial politics. The presenter also stated that these results are universal in all of Brazil. Since she did not say how the students were sampled, or whether there was other research that replicated hers, this would be difficult to prove. However, the results did corroborate with interviews I conducted during my visit of several people of mixed-heritage.

 

Sunday, May 27

 

Visited Rio Claro waterfall, near Nova Ponta, east of Uberlandia We had a very pleasant car ride to the waterfall, viewing the typical agricultural land in the area, and passing several fazendas. These had magnificent entrances with beautiful flowering trees lining both sides,  (note it is the fall in Brazil), and several were obviously owned by Japanese companies. The waterfall was fantastic, the wade in the icy river exhilarating (and I cut my foot), the company wonderful.

 

In the afternoon we had a barbeque in the backyard of Simone’s family house. Simone’s brother cooked the meat, which was very good. The family, Ildamara’s family, and a few others, including Mr. Duval Teixeira, attended the barbeque Mr. Duval spoke to me about Brazilian and American culture (he has lived in the US), and gave me some interesting background on race in Brazil. He believes Brazil is behind the US because many of the people who came to Brazil from Europe were criminals, and also because the US was based on an idea and an ideal – belief in an egalitarian society - while Brazil was simply a colonial extension of Europe. Mr. Duval believes the central social issue in Brazil is poverty, not racism. According to Mr. Duval, Americans used to be very open to Brazil and Brazilians, but that has now changed. Brazilians loved Kennedy because of The Alliance of Progress. Most Brazilians hate Bush, and see the US as very self-centered and not concerned about the rest of the world. Mr. Duval also believes that the schools in Brazil are terrible.