The ethics of care in curriculum development for language education in Portuguese as a Foreign Language in a transnational context

• Grant number: 25/05663-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Applied Linguistics
• Principal Investigator: Simone Tiemi Hashiguti
• Grantee: Simone Tiemi Hashiguti
• Host Investigator: Joaquim Manuel Fernandes Braga
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade de Coimbra (UC), Portugal

Abstract

The development of curricula for language education in transnational contexts demands careful reflection on the relationship between language and culture in meaning-making processes. This theme has been explored in the field of Applied Linguistics (AL), particularly in foreign language (FL) teaching and learning since the 1990s, when studies on identity and culture - many of them based on structuralist and post-structuralist theories of discourse, ideology, and power - began to appear more frequently. The present research also focuses on the relationship between language and culture through the lens of AL, but unlike these studies, it will be approached through the philosophical lens of the ethics of care (Held, 2006; Gilligan, 1982; Tronto, 1993; Braga, 2024), and applied specifically to a focused investigation of care practices in the Uzbek cultural context.This investigation will take place within a broader cooperative project between the University of Campinas (Unicamp) and Uzbekistan World Language University (UZWLU), whose main goal is the development of a higher education curriculum for Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PFL) at UZWLU. In this cooperative and educational context, the linguistic-cultural aspect is particularly compelling, given that the languages in question are relatively distant in their roots and that, even in a globalized world, there are significant cultural differences. However, grasping cultural aspects is no simple task. It requires theoretical and conceptual tools that enable or enhance transcultural sensitivity, especially when the language is not an immediate element of connection, as is our case.Studies on the ethics of care (Held, 2006) suggest that care is a common characteristic among species and shared by all human groups, no matter how culturally diverse they may be (Tronto, 1993). It is a shared principle that guides human relationships and social organization (Braga, 2024), and it makes visible our condition of interdependence (Held, 2006). Practices of care vary significantly across cultures, but all relate to our stance of responsibility, responsiveness, empathy, and collaboration in the face of the other's vulnerability. For this reason, we believe they are more easily identifiable. We thus consider that observing them may be a more intelligible first way to enter and explore a new cultural space.From this perspective, the research questions guiding us are: What do local care practices in this social and educational context reveal about Uzbek culture? How can this information assist us in building a transculturally sensitive curriculum?The study of care practices will serve as a foundational cultural knowledge that guides us in constructing a transculturally sensitive curriculum - that is, one that does not impose one cultural logic over another, but rather fosters their encounter through an ethical and affective engagement with new ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. Furthermore, the approach of transcultural sensitivity to curriculum design through the ethics of care represents a scientifically innovative proposal in the field of AL. In this sense, the study will contribute (1) epistemically to AL by incorporating and deepening the discussion of the ethics of care in the study of transculturality, and (2) to PFL language education, a relatively underexplored area in the global context - especially in regard to the target audience, which has not yet been the focus of any published research. In addition, the research will contribute by (3) mobilizing and systematizing sentimental cartography (Rolnik, 2006) as a methodology. (AU)