The nationalization of childhood in the city of São Paulo (1889-1909)

Abstract

The city of São Paulo needed to nationalize children, teaching them the Portuguese language. The objective is to explain the state government’s role in this endeavor. In all the Italian emigrant colonies in the world, there were subsidized primary schools and an exchange between immigrants. When the Kingdom of Italy, was unified in the 19th century, the government created and maintained private schools in the colonies, to train Italian citizens abroad. The Italian language, officially established after unification, was taught in subsidized schools. Few teachers taught in São Paulo trained in Normal Schools, and the large number of students contributed to the existence of lay teachers. The methodology was based on documentary and bibliographical research. The newspaper Fanfulla, the Annuario delle Scuole Italiane all’estero Governative e Sussidiative, and the Annuario de Ensino do Estado de São Paulo legislation were used as primary sources. The documentary base used Certeau (2002), Salvetti (1995), and Rolnik (1999), among others. Public schools did not offer enough places. It concluded that the government found ways to expand school places and to effectively train Brazilian citizens.