EDUCATION AND ETHNICITY IN THE REGION OF SANTA CRUZ DO SUL - RS

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the relations among education, ethnicity and social mobility in the region of German colonization in Rio Grande do Sul, and mainly in Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil, a city with strong German identity speech. Taking into consideration that it is a city characterized by Germanism, what was observed in the researches accomplished until  now, including the last six years, is that the region in question has a significant population of non-white people, though socially invisible and excluded from the identitary inclusion process of the region community. The researches that were carried out in the private and public – municipal and state – schools in the region of Santa Cruz do Sul permit sharp analysis of the relations between education and social immobility, which result can be evaluated in the identitary visibility/invisibility dynamic and processes of community exclusion of those groups, nominally of  Afro-descendants.

Key-words: Education; Ethnicity; Social visibility/invisibility; Alterity.