Educating for the Nation: School Newspapers and the Nationalization Project in Santa Catarina (1930s-1940s)

Abstract

From the 1930s onward, school newspapers, along with other auxiliary associations, were prescribed to schools by the Department of Education of Santa Catarina. Especially during the Estado Novo (1937-1945), these practices became key instruments of the nationalization project under way since the late nineteenth century. Above all through school newspapers, agricultural clubs, and pro–national language leagues, the use of the Portuguese language and civic and moral values were promoted, aiming to teach children —especially those of German and Italian descent— to become “Brazilian”. This article analyzes both the context in which these newspapers were produced and the narratives about school life published in their pages. Texts signed by students, though under teachers’ supervision, reveal writing and reading practices that help to understand the nationalization project through school culture. The study is part of broader research on school newspapers, funded by CNPq and FAPESC, which has already catalogued more than 1,300 titles produced between 1895 and 1975. These periodicals form part of Brazil’s educational historical heritage. They are memories of past subjects and school practices, describing classes, books, festivities and tributes. The narratives show how school, political and historical cultures intersect, revealing both adherence to and distance from future projects conceived in other times.