Apropriação de professores-leitores do impresso O Amigo das Crianças utilizado nas escolas dominicais no contexto luterano em Pelotas/RS (1960-1990)

Abstract

This research presents as its central object the printed material called The Children's Friend. Since 1937, the date of its first publication, it has been edited and produced by the Rio-Grandense Synod, which in 1968 was recognized as the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB). The target audience for the periodical is children who attended or still attend Sunday school classes. The printed material contains, among its pedagogical proposals, educational objectives defined and aligned with the doctrinal perspective present in other editorial productions linked to the IECLB institution. Currently, with 86 years of existence, the periodical has gone through several phases and adapted to different historical and social contexts of the Brazilian reality. For the research, the time frame was established between 1960, the initial year of Sunday School activities in Lutheran communities in the region of Pelotas/RS; and 1990, the date that marks the decline in the magazine's use. It was also understood that the editorial line worked to retain its target audience in this specific context, in the continuity of the children's religious formation. When conducting interviews with a group made up of seven teachers, individuals who worked in Sunday schools within the established scope, reports emerged that encouraged and supported reflection on the issues listed in this academic analysis. This methodological procedure brought the research closer to the memory of subjects who worked in Sunday schools and used the periodical in these spaces. In this sense, we opted for the theoretical contribution of Portelli (2016) regarding the treatment of oral history. For discussions regarding the concepts of individual and collective memory, Bosi (1994) and Halbwachs (1990) were used. Along this path, data emerged that were discussed based on Chartier's (1988) reflections regarding the concepts of appropriation and materiality. For the intentionality of the content present in the printed matter, Chartier (1996) and Certeau (2008) were listed with two concepts: the first, called strategy and the second as tactics. It is noteworthy that the printed matter has had a long period of existence due to its editorial proposal with various strategies that favor the use of religious and doctrinal content. In the interviewees' reports, the use of tactics carried out by teacher-readers emerged, who, when appropriating the contents, adapted the journal's editorial proposals. Even so, it was noted that the institutional proposal is effective in fostering “continuity and formation of a loyal public” through the themes present in the readings of the printed materials.