the border and the construction of the “other”: conceptions from elementary school students about the indigenous peoples

In this text, we try to discuss some ideas that we consider to be relevant to the Geography in this current period and these ideas take into consideration the importance that the matters relative to the identity have acquired for the understanding of the social-spatial processes and practices. Our reflection on identity is unfolded thanks to the idea of borders that we take as a starting point for this discussion. The border here is understood as a place of otherness, a territory of invention for the other, where the individual seeks to recognize themselves within the otherness. Based on this theoretical route, we analyze how such issues are present and permeate the conceptions of elementary school students about the indigenous peoples of Dourados/MS. Based on the analysis of the activities carried out with students in Dourados/MS, we seek to reflect on borders, identity and otherness. We concluded that the students’ conceptions are constructed due to the distinction between the “I” and the “other”, i.e., the marking of the differences between indigenous and non-indigenous established by elements and parameters that permeate the systems of symbolic representation and also forms of social exclusion involving power relations.本文旨在探讨契合当前地理学研究范畴的若干核心议题，这些议题充分考量了身份认同相关命题对于理解社会-空间进程与实践的重要价值。本研究以边界（borders）概念为讨论起点，展开关于身份认同的系统性思考。此处所指的边界被理解为他者性（otherness）的场域，亦是为他者开辟的建构性空间，个体在此场域中试图在他者性的语境下完成自我认同的探寻。基于这一理论路径，本研究剖析上述议题如何渗透并体现于巴西南马托格罗索州杜拉多斯市（Dourados/MS）小学生对原住民群体的认知之中。依托针对杜拉多斯市（Dourados/MS）学生开展的教学实践活动分析，本研究进一步围绕边界、身份认同与他者性展开反思。研究结论显示，学生的认知建构源于"自我"与"他者"的区分逻辑，即通过符号表征体系中的要素与参数、以及裹挟权力关系的社会排斥形式，来确立原住民与非原住民之间的差异边界。