AFRICANIDADES AND CULTURAL TRIBALISM: EXPERIENCES OF TEACHERS FROM THE AFRICAN CITY OF OBUASI, GHANA

Abstract

This article presents dimensions of a study that focused on the pedagogical experiences of a group of teachers from public schools in Obuasi, Ghana, in West Africa. The objective is to present the specificities of the teachers' experiences, by means of an informative, analytical and reflective approach to the cultural tribal relations in the school arena, the valorization of the identity of the people of Ghana, the importance of bilingual education, the challenge of being a teacher in a school with people who speak different languages, with different prior knowledge and expectations regarding school education. The methodology involved virtual ethnography. Given the uniqueness of the research, digital technologies, a virtual environment, and a messaging application were used. The first part of the study took place when teachers from Obuasi went to the city of Sabará, in Minas Gerais, Brazil, to exchange experiences in the city that they recognized as a sister city. In this article we deal with the second part of the exchanging experience. After returning to their country the teachers from Ghana started a dialogue with the authors of this article. May this study strengthen the projects, reflections and interventions promoted by an Education for Race Relations and Brazilian Africanidades. This study characteristic is to be built on shared experience, which was similar to the process of weaving one of the strips of Kente fabric, from Ghana. In this interweaving, it is necessary to continue weaving until the fabric of knowledge is completed, which always demands more weaving.