THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE IN THE INDIGENOUS SCHOOL "GATEN" OF THE COMMUNITY KAINGANG FOXÁ, LAJEADO / RS – BRAZIL

Abstract

The Kaingang represent the largest indigenous population in Southern Brazil, currently numbering approximately thirty-eight thousand individuals. This indigenous group is distributed among the four Brazilian states: Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná and São Paulo. The community in analysis is located in the Vale do Taquari, in the municipality of Lajeado / RS and is called Foxá, whose meaning in Portuguese is related to the cedar trees that surrounds the village. This people has a peculiar way of looking at life and the relationship with the environment, and the Earth has a very special meaning, because it is from it that all the riches necessary for cultural permanence come from it. The objective of this work is to identify the environmental perspective in the Gatén Indigenous School (spirit of the forest) in the face of ethnobotanical knowledge and environmental education. This is an empirical study with a qualitative and exploratory approach, whose methodological procedures consist of a bibliographical review, a documentary survey, a research conducted in partnership with the Kaingang natives through oral history for interviews, elaboration of field diaries and photographic records. It was evidenced that in the Gatén school of Foxa environmental education is transverse and constant, being developed in both formal and informal spaces of education, being something present in the Kaingang conception itself with regard to ethno-cognitions involving the relations between man and nature. In addition, oral tradition is very important for this people, being passed from generation to generation by the elders, as a way of educating for the achievement of autonomy, revitalization of memory and complementarity with nature.