Cultura e identidade na Amazônia: imagens e narrativas nos/dos livros de literatura infantil no contexto da educação infantil

Abstract

The present study aims to analyze how children’s literature books with an Amazonian regional theme, used as supplementary teaching materials in public Early Childhood Education schools in Manaus, contribute to the presentation of cultural representations of the Amazon to children aged four (4) to five (5) years. The specific objectives are: to identify children’s literature books with a regional theme available in the collections of the schools studied; and to evaluate how the narratives and illustrations of these works represent elements of Amazonian culture, such as territories, Amazonian peoples, legends, myths, traditions, and ways of life of different Amazonian communities. The research is based on a qualitative approach, grounded in the perspective of Rey (2005), who understands subjectivity as a cultural-historical construct, emphasizing the need to consider context and the meanings developed through human dialogue. For the analysis of the images present in the books, the theoretical framework proposed by Schwengber (2012) was adopted, promoting a perspective that goes beyond what is written. The research context involved three public Early Childhood Education schools in Manaus, located in the East, North, and Center-West zones of the city, where a limited number of supplementary books highlighting elements of Amazonian regional culture—such as legends, myths, traditions, and regional aspects—were identified. Four (4) literary works were analyzed. These materials are relevant in the classroom not only as pedagogical resources but also as opportunities to expand children’s contact with Amazonian cultural references in Early Childhood Education. According to the analysis, it was possible to identify that regional Amazonian children’s literature narratives enable contact with cultural elements close to children’s realities, contributing to the diversification of the literary repertoire in Early Childhood Education and questioning the excessive use of Eurocentric works and the colonialist perspective on Amazonian cultures.