Mining the knowledge of Antônio Pereira: Reflections on liberating education for adults and elderly people in Ouro Preto/MG

Abstract

This article presents the Garimpando Saberes Extension Project by Antônio Pereira, anchored in a proposal to re-signify education for adults and the elderly, in order to build a liberating educational practice, capable of welcoming, teaching and supporting those involved, not only resuming and to complete their school education, but also to open themselves up to new possibilities of interaction and personal transformation and the territory in which they live. The “Garimpando os Saberes” project aimed to teach literacy among adults and elderly people, manual miners in the district of Antônio Pereira, in Ouro Preto/MG. Translators of knowledge originating from African peoples in their diasporas in mining processes due to colonization, they bring in their memories cultural traditions passed down from generation to generation, keeping alive the intention of preserving the environment, since land cultivation is a natural action to mining. The starting point is precisely what they bring in their affective memories, their cultural traditions and life experiences. From these experiences, they learned the transforming power of words in their lives, especially as they feel writing, as taught by master Paulo Freire, patron of Brazilian education and the project.