Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

Created in 2010, the Undergraduate Program in Indigenous Intercultural Education of the Southern Atlantic Forest trains and qualifies Guarani, Kaingang and Laklãnõ-Xokleng students to become secondary school teachers in Indigenous schools, and also to develop research projects and activities directly linked to their communities – including at the graduate level – from an intercultural and interdisciplinary perspective.

Centered on indigenous territories in the Atlantic Forest biome, the program addresses land and environmental issues, and students may choose from a number of teaching qualifications:  (i) early childhood, which provides initial training for teaching in early childhood education and primary education; (ii) languages, with an emphasis on Indigenous languages; (iii) humanities, with an emphasis on Indigenous rights; (iv) environmental knowledge, with an emphasis on environmental management.

The program is targeted at Indigenous peoples living in the southern part of the Atlantic Forest biome: Guarani (states of ES, RJ, SP, PR, SC, RS), Kaingáng (states of SP, PR, SC, RS) and Laklãnõ/Xokleng (state of SC).

In order to promote integration between the educational institutions and the ethnic realities, its structure follows the principles of the Pedagogy of Alternation, organized into a University Time (UT) and a Community Time (CT). During the University Time, students attend courses on the Florianópolis campus and/or at Indigenous schools; during the Community Time, they carry out studies and activities in their territories, with the participation of wise indigenous people and the supervision of faculty members.