AS CONTRIBUIÇÕES DA LITERATURA INFANTIL PARA A POLÍTICA DE EDUCAÇÃO INCLUSIVA: UM OLHAR A PARTIR DA DIVERSIDADE

Abstract

The present dissertation, entitled “The Contributions of Children’s Literature to Inclusive Education Policy: A Perspective from Diversity,” has as its main objective to understand how children’s literature can support the process of school inclusion, with a particular focus on the appreciation of diversity. The research is based on the observation that a structural gap persists between the normative ideal (such as the Salamanca Statement and the Brazilian Law for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities – LBI) and the effectiveness of school practices. Inclusion is defended as a paradigm that requires deep transformations in school culture and practices, and is not limited to the physical placement of students. In this context, children’s literature is understood as a tool for social transformation and a formative right, capable of intervening in the ways of seeing and naming the other. The study is guided by specific objectives that include: mapping academic production (stricto sensu) that articulates the theme in the period from 2014 to 2024; analyzing the role of children’s literature in confronting Eurocentrism and structural racism; and analyzing the mediation of literary reading in the formation of values that actively promote diversity and inclusion in school contexts, transcending the mere physical insertion of students. The methodology adopts a qualitative and bibliographic approach, mobilizing the state of knowledge, literature review, and document analysis. The systematic search in the CAPES Theses and Dissertations Catalog (2014–2024) resulted in the identification of only 21 works (20 master’s dissertations and 1 doctoral thesis). The limited production at the doctoral level is interpreted as an indication of the persistence of a structural asymmetry, suggesting that the topic occupies a peripheral position in Brazilian graduate studies, despite its political and pedagogical relevance. The analysis of the mapped corpus reveals thematic convergences that support the central thesis. The potential of children’s literature to confront structural racism and Eurocentrism is observed through the introduction of works featuring Black protagonism (such as narratives about Dandara and Afro-Brazilian characters) and Indigenous protagonism, which contribute to positive identity reconstruction and to the implementation of Law No. 10.639/03. However, the persistence of caricature and erasure in literary productions from local contexts is also identified. In the field of disability, children’s literature requires the material and symbolic reorganization of the book itself, overcoming an exclusively visual logic. The studies point to the need for aesthetic accessibility through multisensory resources (Braille, tactile images, audio description) and bilingual resources (Brazilian Sign Language – Libras as L1 and Portuguese as L2), in accordance with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Reading mediation is described as key to combating medicalization, which turns pedagogical and social difficulties into individual deficits, with literature functioning as a “heterotopia” that welcomes otherness and questions homogenization. The final considerations reaffirm that children’s literature is one of the main resources available to schools, as it promotes social and symbolic justice and ensures full accessibility. However, the fragility of teacher education and the scarcity of doctoral studies limit the system’s capacity to transform the formal right to inclusion into concrete practice in everyday school life. Inclusion, therefore, is affirmed as an act of resistance that requires the transformation of the environment rather than the adaptation of the subject.