“SER TOCANTINENSE”: ENSINO DE HISTÓRIA REGIONAL E MEMÓRIA HISTÓRICA DA CRIAÇÃO DO ESTADO DO TOCANTINS (1981-1990)

Abstract

HOLANDA, Maicon Douglas. “Being from Tocantins”: Regional History Teaching and the historical memory of the creation of the state of Tocantins (1981-1990). 2025. 130f. Dissertation (Master in History Teaching), Federal University of North Tocantins, Araguaína-TO. The aim of this qualitative research is to understand how 3rd grade high school students at the Anaídes Brito Miranda State School, located in the municipality of Santa Fé do Araguaia, in of the state of Tocantins, perceive and mobilize the historical memory and the imagined and legitimized regional political-identity culture about the creation of the state of Tocantins, using the time frame of 1981 and 1990, a period that circumscribes the third autonomous movement from the former north of Goiás, which began with mobilizations for the creation of Tocantins until Palmas became the official capital of the state. Based theoretically and methodologically on Participatory Action Research (Thiollent, 2007) which prioritizes the relationship of knowledge between teachers and students in the classroom, the work aims to analyze the debate and historiography operation in History Teaching (Bittencourt, 2008) about the autonomous process of Tocantins, aiming to elucidate and problematize which subjects and events are linked to the History(s) of the creation of the state of Tocantins based on the social-historical construction of the students. This methodological approach will help us to identify the possibilities of teaching Regional History (Neves, 2000) through the use of historical sources in the classroom, such as the use of institutional photographs and songs that reiterate the discourse of the foundation and the political myth, the perception of Tocantins' identity and the feeling of belonging to the “invented” place in 1988. We concluded that, for the most part, the students evoked their memories from the corpus of the hero myth, but also from movements and subjects who also fought for the emancipation process of the state of Tocantins, such as the Commission for the Study of the Problems of Northern Goiás (CONORTE) and the House of Students of North Goiás (CENOG), re-signified in the 60s. In addition, the students identified the meanings and interests of the regional political elite through the need for representations and state symbols, allowing a break with the hegemonic discourse and power of the regional ruling elite.