Analysis of Human Diversity in 4th And 5th Grade Textbooks Within the Scope of a Capes-Cofecub Project

This article is about an ongoing academic research in Brazil aimed at analyzing human diversity as presented in Brazilian 4th and 5th grade school textbooks of the latest National Plan for Books and Didactic Materials (PNLD) of the National Education Ministry for a four-year period starting in 2023. Four school subjects were chosen for this article belonging to the humanities and exact sciences; arts, Portuguese (language of schooling), natural sciences and mathematics. This quantitative-qualitative research aims to determine the proportions devoted to cultural, linguistic and phenotypic diversity in the referenced corpus. These three categories are broken down into different analysis indicators, generally common to the texts and illustrations of the school textbook in order to take into account the specificity of the Brazilian context and the international context. The qualitative analysis then aims to determine the correlation between editorial trends and legal texts on inclusive education. This research is based on Sociodidactics, on European work on the Plural Approach to Languages and Cultures, on research on discrimination and on school inclusion in Brazil. The current research results reveal a significant imbalance between the different cultures-languages of Brazil, the absence of representation of disabled people and the maintenance of societal stereotypes between men and women.