the border and the construction of the “other”: conceptions from elementary school students about the indigenous peoples

In this text, we try to discuss some ideas that we consider to be relevant to the Geography in this current period and these ideas take into consideration the importance that the matters relative to the identity have acquired for the understanding of the social-spatial processes and practices. Our reflection on identity is unfolded thanks to the idea of borders that we take as a starting point for this discussion. The border here is understood as a place of otherness, a territory of invention for the other, where the individual seeks to recognize themselves within the otherness. Based on this theoretical route, we analyze how such issues are present and permeate the conceptions of elementary school students about the indigenous peoples of Dourados/MS. Based on the analysis of the activities carried out with students in Dourados/MS, we seek to reflect on borders, identity and otherness. We concluded that the students’ conceptions are constructed due to the distinction between the “I” and the “other”, i.e., the marking of the differences between indigenous and non-indigenous established by elements and parameters that permeate the systems of symbolic representation and also forms of social exclusion involving power relations.

Identity; Border; Otherness; Indigenous peoples