Instituição educativa e memórias do internato: a história da Escola-fazenda Canuanã e sua influência na região amazônica (1973-1993)

Abstract

This thesis is linked to the Research Line Education in the Amazon: Teacher Training, Pedagogical Praxis and Curriculum, of the Postgraduate Program in Education – Doctorate in Education in the Amazon (PGEDA), Network Association, Palmas Campus, Federal University of Tocantins. It falls within the field of History of Education and contributes to studies on educational institutions, school culture, and boarding school experiences. The object of investigation is the Canuanã Farm-School, created and maintained by the Bradesco Foundation as a boarding school, located in the municipality of Formoso do Araguaia, then northern Goiás, now the state of Tocantins. The time frame covers the period from 1973 to 1993, corresponding to the implementation and consolidation phase of the school. The research, of a qualitative nature, is situated within the scope of the History of Educational Institutions, is based on Thematic Oral History, and adopts Roger Chartier's Cultural History as an analytical framework. The central problem guiding this study is: how did the Canuanã Farm-School contribute to the formation of individuals and the regional development of Formoso do Araguaia between 1973 and 1993, while simultaneously being part of a territorial intervention project—that is, an initiative that went beyond the limits of the educational field and aimed to reorganize the social, cultural, and economic space of the region, disciplining individuals and incorporating work practices linked to the logic of agribusiness and state policies for the occupation of the Amazon? The general objective was to investigate the history of the Canuanã Farm-School and its motivations in the formation of individuals and the development of the Formoso do Araguaia region, formerly northern Goiás, now southwestern Tocantins, during the period from 1973 to 1993. The specific objectives were as follows: to contextualize the historical, political, social, economic, educational, and cultural scenario that enabled the creation of the Canuanã Farm-School by the Bradesco Foundation in 1973, in the former northern region of Goiás; to analyze the elements of the school culture of the Canuanã Farm-School, manifested in practices, values, norms, symbols, social relations, objects, spaces, and rituals that constitute its material and immaterial dimensions; to reconstruct the trajectory of the Canuanã Farm-School, from 1973 to 1993, based on the experiences of the subjects involved and on documentary sources. Our theoretical framework was based on Alberti (2005), Certeau (1994, 2020), Chartier (1990), Frago (1995, 2001), Gatti Júnior (2002, 2007), Julia (2001), Santos (2005), and Vidal (2005). The methodological approach involved: (i) mapping theses and dissertations in Postgraduate Programs in the Northern region; (ii) producing a state-of-the-art review based on the descriptors Fundação Bradesco, Escola-Fazenda Canuanã, boarding school, school culture, and educational institution; (iii) organizing the research corpus, including official documentary, iconographic, and oral sources, constituted by subjects who experienced the history of the institution and shared their memories. The results show that Escola-Fazenda Canuanã was a unique boarding school experience in the Amazon. Articulating educational and disciplinary practices, it shaped individuals and consolidated patterns of behavior and work. While contributing to the social, economic, and cultural development of the region, it also revealed itself as part of a broader project of territorial intervention, in which significant tensions emerge between indigenous peoples, education, and socioeconomic interests.