Colégio Nossa Senhora de Lourdes, Farroupilha/RS : histórias de sujeitos e práticas (1922-1954)

Abstract

This study intended to understand the historic process of Nossa Senhora de Lourdes School, located in Farroupilha/RS, to broad knowledge about Brazilian and gaúcha history of education. The research was done based on school cultures of the Institution, subjects, and practices in Primary Education as categories of analysis. The institution, founded in 1917, belongs to Education Association São Carlos of Missionary Scalabrinian Sisters of São Carlos Borromeo of Italian origin. The timeline used in this study is 1922, when the first address move of the institution occurs, until 1954, when the functioning of secondary course (curso ginasial) is authorized to function. Theoretical-methodological presuppositions of Cultural History directed the analysis, mainly with the contribution of historians such as Burke (1992, 2000), Le Goff (1996), Chartier (2002), and Pesavento (2008). To base the understanding of school cultures, contributors are Julia(2001), Viñao Frago and Escolano (2001), Vidal (2005;2009), and Faria Filho (2007). The main sources of information for research are: (a) written documents (Book of Sagrado Coração de Jesus Parish, minute books, school final exams and registers of apostolic life of five religious-teachers), (b) photographs, and (c) oral history of seven subjects linked to the school (five ex-students and two ex-religious-teachers). Nevertheless, other sources were used in the course of the narrative elaboration, as, for example, the Report of Previous Verification for authorization of “ginásio” course, newspapers and documents of personal collections of interviewees. The narrative done allowed to understand the emergence of the school in the local context, as well as the emergence of the Missionary Scalabrinian Sisters of São Carlos Borromeo Congregation, its action in the education área and its expansion to Rio Grande do Sul. Related to school subjects, students, teachers and directors, it was possible to note that students bring with them some traces of ethnicity and culture which are characteristic of this place. The teaching staff is mainly formed by religious-teachers which education is firstly religious. Professional education was made possible by the congregation in different forms (complementary school, music courses, dactylography, among others). Directors, congregation sisters, were initially not from the region, but this has changed a long time. The post of manager represents a function, which is not exclusive and is apparently linked to other hierarchies in the congregation. School practices, analyzed from traces and representations, allowed noting (a) the classroom as a privileged space for school practices, (b) reading and writing practices as a common thread of the other knowledge sets, (c) permeated by discipline, order and religiosity, and (d) forms of quantifying learning. These practices, hybridized by “New School” ideas, by educational laws, and by the process of nationalization marked school cultures of the researched school.