Infâncias no contexto indígena e o currículo:

por uma educação que rompe fronteiras e valoriza a diversidade

Abstract

This article offers a critical reflection on the ways of being and living childhood within the context of Indigenous pedagogies, articulating Cultural Studies in Education with the formative experiences developed in the Undergraduate Degree in Pedagogy at the Rio das Cobras Indigenous village, located in Nova Laranjeiras, Paraná, Brazil. Considering that Cultural Studies challenge homogeneous views of curriculum and childhood—understood as historical, social, and cultural constructs—this paper problematizes school curricula still shaped by normative and standardized logics, contrasting them with the knowledge, practices, and temporalities of Indigenous childhoods. The study reveals that Early Childhood Education, in Indigenous communities, occurs beyond the walls of the school, based on respect for plurality and Indigenous ways of existence. In this context, learning is rooted in observation, coexistence, and listening, guided by a rhythm that escapes the rigidity of the school clock and values collectivity and belonging. Therefore, the article advocates for the urgent need to rethink Early Childhood curricula, recognizing childhoods as producers of knowledge and culture, rather than incomplete stages of human development. The formative experience at the Rio das Cobras village highlights the strength of situated, critical, and intercultural pedagogical practices, capable of inspiring an education that breaks with hegemonic models and affirms diversity as an ethical and political principle of the educational act.