Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

Educational activity carried out with Indigenous elders and leaders in 2023.

Created in 2010, the Undergraduate Program in Indigenous Intercultural Education of the Southern Atlantic Forest (licenciatura) 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.