Teaching “Black Lives Matter” and “Movimento Negro”: A comparative analysis of Black social movements in U.S. and Brazilian secondary school textbooks

• In Event: The Role of Curricula in Shaping Student Outcomes

Proposal

School curriculum has been linked to societal attitudes, state priorities in education, and socialization of students broadly. Understanding the links between the representation of social movements and school curriculum can reveal underlying narratives about social and civic engagement and who is encouraged to participate. Around the world, people of African descent are among the most marginalized, so it is crucial that research seeks to understand how these young people are being educated about their own opportunities and abilities to transform the societies they live in. Thus, this project is an analysis of descriptions and depictions of national Black social movements in social science textbooks used in Brazil and the United States. The major questions this project seeks to answer are: which Black social movements and which leaders are represented; and to what extent do the narratives about Black social movements of the past connect to social movements of the present? Ultimately, this study will contribute to the broader body of knowledge about school curriculum as a site of socialization.

Author

• Darius Gordon, Stanford University