Ethnic-Racial Relationships among Pre-Service Biology Teachers in a Brazilian University

Abstract

Aiming at a historical recovery of racial inequalities caused by black slavery, the Brazilian State instituted affirmative action policies, including racial quotas, which were approved at the University of São Paulo only in 2017, after several attempts by the black movement in the State of São Paulo. One of the challenges is to comply with the Law 10.639 / 03 and its application in the initial teacher education programs. This study corresponds to a case study that aims to investigate difficulties faced by biology students from the College of Philosophy, Science and Literature at the University of São Paulo, who developed a seminar about the contributions of the African people descendants in scientific development for a course of the first semester of the program. The data were obtained by participant observation and application of a questionnaire, analyzed qualitatively. Results showed that difficulties faced by students to reach the objectives of the course are related to the processes of epistemicide in the curriculum, to the program’s academic offer and to institutional racism.