Banca de DEFESA: TEREZA MARTA RIBEIRO MENDES

THE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES OF A MILITARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION: BETWEEN 

ARCHIVES AND MEMORIES (1949-1992)

Educational practices. Military education. Power relations.

This research aimed to analyze the educational practices disseminated by the subjects of
the Escola Preparatória de Cadetes do Ar (EPCAR) in a historical dimension. It was
investigated how these practices were articulated, experienced and produced by the
subjects at EPCAR, a military institution founded in 1949, in Barbacena/MG. The
chronological cut considered two fundamental moments of the School: the year in which it
was inaugurated, in 1949, with the arrival of the pioneer group, extending until 1992, the
year in which it temporarily suspended the activities related to high school education.
Different documents were selected from the EPCAR archive as sources for this research,
such as: school transcripts, enrollment books, historical books, photographs and the Senta
a Pua magazines, which were produced by the students themselves. There was also a
crossing of information from these documents with the newspaper Cidade de Barbacena,
an important source of information about what was happening in the city at that time. In
addition, the records left by students in the institution's furniture were mobilized as sources
of this investigation, material that reveals issues linked, above all, to the students’
disciplinary issue. For the analysis of information, some Foucaultian tools were used, such
as those that focus on “power relations”, “knowledge production” and “self-care”
(FOUCAULT, 2006). In addition, studies on School Culture (JULIA, 2001) and key
elements for the categorization of educational practices (FARIA FILHO, 2000) were
worked on for data analysis. The results show that the educational practices were based on
the principles of hierarchy, discipline and subordination, since it was a military teaching
school. They also indicate that the School was the space for the propagation of military
precepts, which had characteristics intrinsic to the training of military students. It was also
observed that the political-social scenario, in which EPCAR was immersed, made possible
the formation of a professional who had legitimate capacities by the State for the use of
force and that educational practices constituted disciplined, moralized, physically healthy
subjects and faithful to the fulfillment of moral and patriotic duties. The study, which is
part of the History of Education, sought to contribute to the investigations, more
specifically on the history of military educational institutions.