This interview is part of the Special Issue entitled Antiquity in Historical
Culture: School and Public Experiences for the Journal História Hoje. This
Special Issue is motivated, on the one had, by recent developments in Brazilian
basic education – the establishment of a unified national curriculum and the
reformation of Brazilian High School, which reconfigured the Humanities
disciplines in a transversal organization –, on the other, by the progression of
the research on the teaching of Ancient History.
Brazilian Higher Education system was greatly influenced by the French
model, and in this context, the field of History was particularly dependent on
French practices of research and teaching History before the recent imposition
of the Anglo-Saxon language and patterns of research.
To become a History Teacher for students from 11 to 17 years, the person
must have graduated in History, an undergraduate degree with at least
four years. The degrees in History are composed by disciplines divided often
in three groups: first, disciplines presenting past societies historical processes
and events organized around the quadripartite chronological timeline
(Antiquity, Middle Ages, Modern Age, Contemporary Age); second, disciplines
on Theory and Methodology of History; third, disciplines on History teaching, which take a larger part of the curriculum for those that opt for
“Licenciatura” (a major in History teaching). In this model, the courses often
have 1 or 2 disciplines on Ancient History, usually focused on “Classical
Antiquity” or “Greco-Roman Civilization”. The specialization in Ancient
History happens only at the post-graduation, where masters and doctors are
formed, researching exclusively Antiquity.
In Brazilian Higher Education, “Classics” is a term often restricted to
Languages and Literature graduation courses specialized in Greek or Latin.
The History students that wish to improve their formation often supplement
it by taking disciplines from Classics (Language and Literature), Classical
Philosophy and (more rarely) Ancient Archaeology. The conversation between
History, Classical Languages and Literature, Classical Philosophy and
Ancient Archaeology is effective, but the departmentalization of the field in
Brazil restricts the professional practice to their original fields.
