Literatura infanto-juvenil e questões étnico-raciais no reconto de crianças brasileiras

Abstract

In the present study, we aimed at comprehending the meanings and ideologies that affect the discursive formulation of Brazilian children when reproducing writer Ana Maria Machado’s short stories “Menina Bonita do laço de fita” [Pretty Girl with a Ribbon]. In order to gather the data, we have carried out interviews with children from public schools of city of Belo Horizonte – in the state of Minas Gerais and from the city of Recife – in the state of Pernambuco. We performed a qualitative analysis, grounded on the theoretical referential from discourse analysis. The results indicate that the meanings produced by the children when retelling the short story refer to the discursive formation of beauty, as well as the physical characteristics that concern to the girl’s aesthetics, such as hair color and type. On the other side, the ethnical-racial issues are silenced or softened, and we have observed the construction of meanings that refers to the notion that the girl is ‘brown’, especially among the Brazilian northwestern children, thought the short story makes explicit that the girl has a dark skin.