Curriculum Beyond Normativity: Difference Concealment in Brazilian Curriculum Policies

• In Event: 43.080 - Sheraton Roundtable Six - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 43.080-6 - Differing Differences: Transnational Curriculum Spaces and Inquiries in Post-Truth Times

Abstract

Purpose of the paper: The study aims to deconstruct the belief that curriculum theory must foster a normative project. First, I focus on recent curriculum policies in Brazil and their movements towards building imaginary all-inclusive communities. I do so in order to argue that normative curriculum policies do not seem to solve major exclusions in education. Secondly, I defend the need for a deficit-normative curriculum theory capable of questioning approaches that, in the realms of politics, make many forms of life unthinkable and ungrievable (Butler, 2004).
Theoretical framework: I rely on poststructural theories, drawing primarily from Derrida, but also from Butler and Bhabha. I engage with these main theorizings that are furthered developed here below in the “Conclusions” section: the performance of selfhood (Derrida, 1992); the temporality of “to come” (Derrida, 2005); and the third space of enunciation (Bhabha, 1994).
Modes of Inquiry: My analyses of the political processes through which common core was produced involves close readings (Gallop, 2000) of the three versions of the guideline and accompanying media debates. I subsequently map political forces struggling to control the curriculum.
Evidence: The enactment of common core curriculum in Brazil took 20 years and involved articulations among different political forces. More recently, as post-truth seems to find its way internationally, a conservative neo-populist coalition between religious — mainly Pentecostal, but also Catholics — and neoliberal demands gained prominence. The main enemy of that coalition is the rights of the so-called others, especially of racial, gender and sexual minorities – rights that are banned from the national curriculum.
Conclusions and warrants for arguments: The enactment of Brazilian common core, with its exclusions, expounds the dangers of normative policies to “others,” although they still abide even when more inclusive policies are in place. My argument is that normative policies will always mingle with sameness because normativity works to suture the fractures that difference introduce into politics. And by asserting that, I do not mean I believe in a total absence of normativity, only that, as per Derrida, it is necessary to avoid attitudes that offer the promise of wholeness. Via my curriculum theorizing, I work through two Derridian ideas: the performance of selfhood (Derrida, 1992) and the temporality of “to come” (Derrida, 2005). The first one makes possible explorations of the excess that overflows the determined character of normativity. The second, as an attempt to inflect the structure of time, allows me to conceive curriculum as a liminal space-time, a third space of enunciation (Bhabha, 1994). Together, they contribute to my contention that exposure to radical alterity — that is education — cannot be anticipated, regulated or foreseen.
Scholarly significance of the study: In a moment when, internationally, rights of the “others” are at stake, it is important to understand how conservative discourses are gaining prominence in national scenarios as well as to work towards a curriculum theory that supports an education for difference.

Author

• Elizabeth F. Macedo, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro