Central foundations of Ubuntu Living: A look at anti-racist teaching methodologies.

• Grant number: 25/19599-7
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: January 01, 2026
• End date: December 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Leonardo Dresch Eberhardt
• Grantee: Leonardo Dresch Eberhardt
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Enfermagem. Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: Campinas
• Associated research grant: 25/03063-0 - Productive transformations and metal workers health in the Campinas region, São Paulo, Brazil, AP.R

Abstract

Brazil was built on racist foundations, in a violent colonization project that, since the invasion, has used racism as a central axis for the control and subjugation of enslaved Black bodies. As analyzed by various thinkers, such as Sueli Carneiro and Silvio Almeida, the scars of this process are profound and manifest today through structural racism, permeating institutional, interpersonal, and individualized relationships. The Ubuntu Experience fits into this context, operating as an act of pedagogical resistance. Inspired by Paulo Freire's culture circles, the proposal also incorporates teachings from bell hooks, sparking engagement and critical thinking among university students, fostering the construction of a racialized learning community sensitive to intersectional oppressions. As a theoretical-methodological strategy, the Ubuntu Experience is anchored in the theory developed by Débora Santos (2021), which aims to provide tools for Recognizing (racism and its manifestations), Breaking (with all that racism implies), Resisting (all forms of discrimination), and Repairing/Reconstructing (creating a new reality based on equity and social justice). Through participant observation and field diaries, this research seeks to describe the pedagogical tools of the Ubuntu Experience, investigating how these tools contribute to an anti-racist pedagogy, contributing to its dissemination as a well-known methodology for confronting racism. (AU)