DESCOLONIZANDO SABERES ATRAVÉS DE MEMES: UMA ABORDAGEM CRÍTICA DAS QUESTÕES RACIAIS NO ENSINO DE HISTÓRIA NO INSTITUTO FEDERAL DO TOCANTINS - CAMPUS COLINAS DO TOCANTINS (2023-2025)

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of memes as a teaching tool in History, especially with regard to addressing ethnic-racial issues and promoting decolonial and anti-racist pedagogical practices. Understood as multi-semiotic genres that circulate widely in digital environments, memes are effective devices for articulating language, social criticism, and political engagement among students. The theoretical framework is based, among others, on the studies of Rojo (2012), Coscarelli (2019), Quijano (2005), Walsh (2009, 2013), Freire (1987, 2013), and hooks (2013, 2014), articulating the concepts of digital literacy, critical literacy, decolonial education, critical learning, and counter-hegemonic pedagogical practices. The methodology used was qualitative, with an analytical-interpretative focus, involving participant observation, production of memes by students in Basic Education and subsequent discursive analysis of these productions. Memes produced by students were collected and analyzed, with themes focused on black aesthetics, the violence of racism, criticism of colonization and the problematization of Eurocentric symbols. The analysis demonstrated that memes act as counter-discourses to the traditional curriculum and as practices of historical resignification, mobilizing school and everyday knowledge in articulation with digital culture. It was found that, when mediated by a critical and intentional pedagogical proposal, memes promote student engagement, critical literacy and the exercise of citizenship. The research reinforces the importance of educational practices that recognize intertextualized languages as legitimate and that integrate digital technologies into the historical and political formation of subjects. Finally, the educational product is situated in the sequence of application of the experience, which was guided by the didactic sheet: Decolonizing knowledge through memes: a critical approach to racial issues, based on Piconez (2004), with the subsequent creation of the Instagram page @memehistoriado, which had as its starting point the posts of memes produced by the students, with the aim of making this environment a channel for critical formation and a didactic instrument.