The Daily Masks and Socially Sensitive Identity: An Ethical and Aesthetical Proposal for Education in Brazil

Abstract

The Daily Masks project, which is the subject of this paper, is a reflexive exercise, focused on identity and emotional sensitivity as a way to engage in educational praxis for progressive practices in education in Brazil. In this article we relate these considerations to the principles of Border Pedagogy in the context of developing sensitivity to the Aesthetic of Ginga, a concept based on a traditional Brazilian dance that signifies fluidity of being. This fluidity and sensitivity to the emotional aspects of identity construction we believe work to overcome the traditional Iron Mask orientation in Brazil that restricts and stereotypes the identity of both teachers and students. In this paper we describe a workshop developed and instituted in southern Brazil utilizing multiple arts that rely on the aesthetic to give fluidity and flexibility to identity construction in progressive education. The arts are the ground that enables deterritorialization of socially constructed norms and dogmas. In our daily mask activities, the arts are essential for stimulating reflexivity about the importance of valuing diversity as a factor for social development.