The aim of this paper is to show how the curriculum field, mainly since the 1990s, influenced proposals of change within Brazilian education and why later this influence gradually decreases. It is argued that nowadays a significant part of the production in the curriculum field is influenced by postmodernist cultural studies. It is also argued that this orientation is not able to offer effective contributions to the pedagogical practice. The article is divided in two parts. The first one shows how, under the influence of critical theories, the production in the curriculum field had a wide repercussion in the educational reforms during the 1990s. In the second part, based on Terry Eagleaton' ideas, it is criticized the postmodernist cultural studies approaches. In this context, it is discussed why postmodernist curriculum studies have given a small contribution to school curriculum.
Critical Curriculum Academic Production; Postmodernism and Curriculum; Curriculum Theory and School Education