Uma visão dos corpos negros a partir de textos multimodais em um livro do PNLD 2024

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the imagetic representation of Black people in the textbook (hereafter, TB) Joy Starter, designed for the 9th grade of Elementary School, based on critical studies of raciality, multimodality theory, and the foundations of an antiracist pedagogical practice. The analyzed TB is part of the English Language curriculum component, selected by the National Textbook and Teaching Material Program (PNLD) for the 2024–2027 cycle, and is used in some schools within the municipal public education system of Fortaleza. It is worth noting that this study materializes a partnership resulting from academic entry into graduate studies, based on an agreement between the Federal University of Ceará (UFC) and the Municipal Department of Education of Fortaleza (SME). In this way, teaching practice is problematized, as proposed by Tardiff (2014). Consequently, this is a socially referenced research that seeks to unveil racist practices present in multimodal school texts, grounded in a critical (Pennycook, 2006) and undisciplined (Moita Lopes, 2006) applied linguistics. This research is relevant because it addresses an urgent issue, particularly in the Brazilian hypermodern context. Furthermore, the study also adopts an intersectional perspective, drawing on the concept of becoming-Black in the world (Mbembe, 2013), which problematizes other forms of exclusion, advancing a research vision that interconnects racism and other prejudices against minoritized groups. To support the study, we articulate theories that discuss racism and multimodality, promoting epistemological justice. In this study, we engage with the ideas of Black scholars who hold a place of enunciation and make significant contributions to the debate on racism and other exclusions, such as Araújo (2024, 2025), Bento (2022), Fanon (2008), Gonzalez (2020), hooks (1992), Mbembe (2018), and Nascimento (2019), among others. This effort seeks to break with the traditional canon and bring voices from the Global South, thus making a decolonial move, in line with Quijano (2007). Methodologically, the qualitative and bibliographic research on the images in the TB was conducted based on the theories of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006), which address multimodality. Our investigations were interconnected with critical studies of raciality, which address racism and visual literacy, providing powerful tools for confronting the corpus. The results revealed that the analyzed texts were not neutral. Although the TB in question plays a significant role by incorporating representations of Blackness in almost all units, the analysis uncovered several forms of prejudice, as all the texts analyzed placed Black people in subordinate roles. This demonstrates that the multimodal texts analyzed are part of a discursive and historical articulation that positions Black people in disadvantaged places. Such findings reinforce the need to establish a

new era and reflect on the implications of these analyses for a more antiracist and inclusive practice of foreign language teaching, while also bringing to the debate the sensitive issue of racism and other exclusions.