University Outreach, Indigenous Knowledge, and Education: A Project with the Pataxó in Brazil

Abstract

University outreach in Brazil is a way of inserting external society into the procedures and activities developed in the academic field. The objective of this study was to investigate the interaction between the Pataxó indigenous community and a Brazilian higher education institution for the implementation of a university outreach action. This action aimed to promote the training of teachers of this indigenous group to work in multigrade classrooms. The project’s construction began in 2018 through an institutional partnership involving the city hall of Porto Seguro, the Pataxó community, and the Federal Institute of Bahia. Based on the protagonism of the indigenous groups, the role of the higher education institution in programs involving traditional communities is discussed. The result indicates that the protagonism of the traditional community does not take away the powers of the institution that will offer the training but adds quality to an equitable relationship with the different sectors of Brazilian society.