Narrating indigenous student trajectories

AESA-CESA, the History Course and the Fulni-ô

Abstract

When considering the process of entry into higher education for people belonging to indigenous peoples, this work presents an understanding of how higher education contributes to the process of transformation in the lives of these peoples, so that we can analyze the role that the Higher Education Authority of Arcoverde, through the college maintained by this institution, the Higher Education Center of Arcoverde (AESA-CESA), plays or has played in the construction of the trajectories of these people, in the process of intellectual qualification, the resignification of their identities and access to the job market. Within this understanding, the proposal raises questions regarding this relationship between the History course at CESA and the trajectory of Fulni-ô students who had access to this degree and the Higher Education Institution, so that we can collaborate in the sense of thinking about the training processes with indigenous populations, the historical importance that Higher Education Authorities had in educational assistance in the interior of the State, including indigenous populations in a context in which public policies for access to higher education for these populations were scarce. Through the use of the Oral History methodology, it was possible to present the trajectories of the Fulni-ô indigenous people and reflect on the role and place that this institution and the History course occupied in the educational process, thus seeking to reflect on the importance of these populations' access to higher education. In addition, it was possible to understand and highlight the role that the Autarchy has in the process of qualifying and educating these populations and collaborate to build greater visibility regarding this theme and the teaching of indigenous history.