“O homem que fez 2000 escolas” : representações sobre Felipe Tiago Gomes e seu percurso frente à Campanha Nacional de Escola da Comunidade – CNEC (1940-2000)

Abstract

This thesis is inserted in the Cultural History field, considering more specifically the biographical genre premises (DOSSE, 2015). It investigates the life of Felipe Tiago Gomes, founder of the school sponsor called National Campaign of Community Schools - CNEC, a movement that initiated during his youth, when he was a Law student in Pernambuco, in 1940. The study focuses on aspects of Felipe Tiago Gomes' activities related to this institution. Developed from the Oral History methodology (PORTELLI, 2016) and the Historical Documentary Analysis (SAMARA; TUPY, 2007), the research articulates concepts of memory (HALBWACHS, 1990), appropriation (CHARTIER 2011) and representation (CHARTIER, 1990), in order to deal with aspects of this character's life within the chosen historical period, which covers some CNEC's activities, the years in which Felipe Tiago Gomes worked as a superintendent of this institution, and the community appropriations of his life story during and after his existence. The general objective is to analyze representations of his life and his CNEC-related work, as well as to understand the appropriations regarding him and his trajectory that have been produced in this context. The specific objectives are: to identify and to analyze which aspects of Felipe Tiago Gomes' life were selected and used to describe his work at CNEC; to verify the nets in which this character established political articulations and to understand the influence of these contexts in the construction of his image as a central figure for the dissemination of the Campaign, as well as to analyze the representations and memories about him by these groups; to discuss the memories and representations that describe this character as a teacher and to describe Felipe Tiago's ideas on education, schooling and teaching. Considering these purposes, this thesis' chapters discuss the representations produced about this character – which create a myth that is used to consolidate actions taken by CNEC, in and through the nets articulated by its founder. Moreover, it approaches Felipe Tiago's activities in the educational context, focusing on representations that characterize him as a teacher – a profession he has never practiced – and as a reference for Brazilian education. The study also makes use of secondary concepts that contribute to further deepen the discussion, considering the dimensions established in this investigation. Finally, this thesis concludes that, throughout his life, Felipe Tiago Gomes made use of his personal choices to underpin and to disseminate the mottos of the National Campaign. The “community of memory” formed by people next to him strives to keep the memory of its mentor and his image as a myth, thus the representations constructed about Felipe Tiago and his actions at CNEC transform him into a visionary, someone who was ahead of his time. Nevertheless, he is not a person known outside the context related to CNEC, which encourages this community of memory to develop actions with the purpose of keeping his memory alive. In addition, when reality is seen from a micro-scale perspective, it is possible to demonstrate the existence of political interests between different social groups, as well as some outcomes resulting from these relations. Therefore, the study shows the role of an individual in the elaboration and construction of reality, pointing to movements that characterize the use of public affairs for private purposes. In short, it is possible to say that analyzing the life of Felipe Tiago Gomes and its relationship with Brazilian history of education enabled the investigation to perceive the backstage of the public policy creation process, as well as the role of individuals and their specificities in this context.