Currently, ethnographies are recognized as serious research methods in the field of social sciences, though they are still gaining recognition in the educational scene. This study is based on the delimitation of the object from an inside perspective, aiming to understand the cultural experience of the Guarani-Kaiowá deaf people. The general goal is to investigate the communication and inclusion process of deaf children in family and school contexts of the indigenous communities of Bororó and Jaguapiru Villages, in Dourados/Mato Grosso do Sul. The specific goals were: a) to comprehend how indigenous deaf children relate to and communicate with their family and in school; b) to identify what is comfortable and what is difficult for them regarding communication and inclusion; and c) to describe actions and strategies used by the family and by the school to achieve communication and effective inclusion of children in these systems. The analyses are conceptually based on cultural studies, deaf studies and assumptions of ecological human development, guided by the interdependence between family cultures and different contexts of socialization - determining factors for human development. The results of the study allowed us to: identify an emerging system of communication used by family and child; to identify siblings as mediators of communication in the family and at school; and to recognize, in the speech of teachers, the role of the sign language interpreter as a pedagogical and communicative strategy for the inclusion of indigenous deaf children. Finally, ethnographic research enabled us to investigate this situation with an insider view, highlighting the establishment of intercultural dialogue.
Special Education; Deafness; Indigenous Education; Cultures; Sign Language
