Representações sociais de professores(as) sobre a prática minerária em Amarantina (Ouro Preto-MG)

Abstract

This thesis aims to understand the processes behind the ways teachers think, feel, and act regarding mining practice in Amarantina (Ouro Preto-MG). Following the collapse of the Fundão Dam in Mariana-MG, the extraction of gneiss rock in Amarantina was expanded to supply materials for repair works, including the construction of dikes, retaining walls associated with dams, and other civil structures. In addition to this extraction activity, a mining company using a dry-processing method for iron ore has intensified local road traffic by using the main road of one of the region’s villages to transport its production. As a result, the area began experiencing socio-environmental transformations triggered by these two mining activities. The research adopted the theoretical and methodological framework of Social Representations in Movement, along with concepts developed through the dam colapse-mining-education nexus, to investigate how teachers in Amarantina construct their social representations of mining practice in the region. The methodological approach included a survey of existing literature, fieldwork involving questionnaires and narrative interviews, and the analysis of 11 interviews supported by theoretical frameworks.The narratives revealed four analytical categories in the ways teachers think, feel, and act: (i) mining practice does not influence the teachers' ways of thinking, feeling, and acting; (ii) mining practice does not influence teachers' ways of acting; (iii) mining practice does not mobilize teachers’ problematizing mode of action; (iv) mining practice mobilizes teachers’ problematizing ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. The study offers reflections on teachers' social representations of mining practice in Amarantina and on the relationship between education and mining. The findings indicate that mining practice creates tensions in the ways teachers think, feel, and act. Regarding how these ways manifest in teaching practice, the narratives revealed difficulties in organizing them to address the topic in all its complexity. However, some narratives showed structured approaches that enable problematizing discussions in teaching. The actions of mining companies in schools, through donations and Environmental Education Programs, influence content, methodology, and narratives. The narratives revealed the presence of Pedagogical Silence, a result of the limitated information provided by the companies and reproduced in schools.