Professora Judite Pacheco de Araújo: protagonismo na escola rural de Trapiá, Itapipoca-Ceará (1965-1975)

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the memory narratives, knowledge, and pedagogical practices developed by teacher Judite Pacheco de Araújo in the process of creating and consolidating the rural school in the community of Trapiá, located in the municipality of Itapipoca, Ceará, between 1965 and 1975. Situated within the field of History of Education, this research is based on the understanding that the history of schooling in the backlands of Ceará is not constituted only by decrees, reforms, or official documents, but also by the experiences of subjects who, in their territories, gave concreteness to the right to learn. In this sense, teacher Judite’s trajectory constitutes a pathway to understanding broader aspects of schooling in these territories. The guiding question of this study is to understand how teacher Judite’s trajectory contributed to the constitution of the rural school in Trapiá through her teaching knowledge and practices. With a qualitative, historical-educational, and biographicalnarrative approach, the investigation articulates semi-structured interviews, memory narratives, documentary analysis, and field diary, taking memory, territoriality, and experience as central categories of analysis. The theoretical framework dialogues with authors from the fields of History of Education, memory, narrative, and teaching knowledge, such as Michel de Certeau, Paul Ricoeur, Ecléa Bosi, António Nóvoa, Maurice Tardif, Paulo Freire, Plácido Aderaldo Castelo, J. Moreira de Sousa, Djacir Menezes, and Maria Luiza Marcílio, among others. The analysis shows that the rural school in Trapiá emerged in a context of material precariousness, delayed presence of the State, and strong community mobilization. In this scenario, Judite’s work reveals a form of teaching built between the home-school, multigrade classes, care, discipline, religiosity, community bonds, and everyday strategies for maintaining the school. It is concluded that her trajectory expresses forms of female teaching protagonism in the rural areas of Ceará, making a history that remains alive in the memories of her former students, family members, and community continue to resonate. By recognizing this experience, the research contributes to broadening the historiography of education in Ceará, shifting the focus from large institutions to historically invisibilized subjects, territories, and practices.