Dissertação - Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação / UEM

MACHADO, Marcelo Oliano. BE, BA, BE, BE, BE I BI, THE ALMANAC
FONTOURA: between school’s reading practices and the republican
educational project, a presentation of countryman (1914-1920). 88f.
Dissertation (Master in Education) – State University of Maringá. Tutor: Prof. Dr.
Edneia Regina Rossi. Maringá, 2011.
ABSTRACT
Between 1914-1920 two speeches draw attention: the “Old Prague” from 1914 and
the “Almanac of Biotonico Fontoura” from 1920 both author's Monteiro Lobato.
They are focused on the Brazilian countryman from different point of view and both
were in a period that many changes occurred in Brazil, specifically those related to
the reorganization and mechanization of the field, that contributed to emerge
several proposals for education for the rural areas. Among them are those that
aimed attention and were looking for new hygiene‟s habits and work which
transformed the countryman, especially the children in school age, whose became
important subjects for the civilization process. Considering these aspects, the
objective of this research is to reveal the relationship between the representations
of the countryman expressed by the Almanac and its approach to the speeches of
education that surrounded Brazil in the second decade of the twentieth century.
These reflections point to the hypothesis that the Almanac Biotonico Fontoura,
specially the issues that brought the story of Jeca Tatuzinho have contributed to
the creation of a representative image of backcountry composed for the delay,
poor hygiene, poor education, diseases and poverty. This almanac was used in
schools as reading material. So this practice of reading helped to consolidate in
the mind of most readers in school age or people who had contact with its a
negative image of the Brazilian countryman. To make this research I used texts
related to the History of Education in Brazil, literary texts about the backwoods and
its inhabitants, other ones that were related to the practices of reading, individual
and collective representations, than those specifically relating to the education in
rural areas.
Key-words: History of Education; Almanac Biotonico Fontoura; Jeca Tatu;
practices of reading; representation.