(Auto)biographical memoirs of teachers from Italian colonization region in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil: Alice Gasperin’s and Elvira Dendena’s cases

Abstract

Alice Gasperin and Elvira Dendena were born, lived and died in the Italian colonization area in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Daughters of Italian immigrants, they worked all lives as teachers in rural public schools. Each of them became a teacher through the opportunities given, and their life stories enable us to understand some features from the school cultures that were produced and that are producing school subjects. Alice Gasperin wrote autobiographical memoirs about her life, about the community where she lived, the school where she attended and in which she also worked as a teacher. Elvira Dendena wrote adaptations of texts, poems and plays. Her biography was produced based on her family, students and colleagues memories. Thus, the main documentary sources for our study were the writings (autobiography and diaries) by the teachers themselves, beyond interviews, photographs and other written documents (like official letters, decrees, reports...). This article intends to describe the life stories of the two teachers and understand, through their unique features, the complexities experienced, their daily teaching activities, their search for improvement, their difficulties, their dedication of a whole life for education and the recognition they received from their communities. The analysis is based on the theoretical framework of Cultural History. These teachers and their students, (inter)mediated in a given power correlation by the school inspectors, the families, the political and the religious authorities, played a central role in the institution of school cultures, of daily activities and in the process of affirmation of public education in that area of Italian colonization. Then, the results of the research contribute to the reflections on the plurality of educational and cultural processes in Rio Grande do Sul and also in Brazil.

Key words: teachers, biography, school cultures.