DECOLONIAL EDUCATION AND TERRITORIAL KNOWLEDGES: A CRITICAL INTERCULTURAL EXPERIENCE BETWEEN IFAP CAMPUS OIAPOQUE AND THE LOCAL INDIGENOUS AND QUILOMBOLA COMMUNITY

Abstract

Based on the experience of the 2025 National Science and Technology Week (SNCT) at IFAP Campus Oiapoque—an event organized in partnership with the Jorge Iaparrá and Maria Flor dos Santos indigenous schools, as well as the Kulumbu do Patuazinho Quilombola Association—this article problematizes the relations of epistemic power that permeate the school curriculum and proposes critical interculturality as a horizon for decolonial education. We argue that the curriculum is not a simple list of contents, but a field of symbolic forces in permanent dispute, where it is defined which knowledges are legitimate and which are silenced. The inclusion of indigenous, quilombola, and ribeirinho (traditional riverside) knowledges is not merely a matter of cultural representation; rather, it is a requirement of cognitive justice. The article analyzes the successful case of SNCT 2025, demonstrating how educational activities can reframe the curriculum by promoting dialogue between different rationalities—moving beyond technical and mercantile logic—and overcoming historical barriers to the valuation of these knowledges within the school context. This qualitative, descriptive, and bibliographic research is grounded in authors such as Bispo dos Santos, Brandão, Capra, Freire, Leff, Meneses, Walsh, among others. We conclude that the experience represents a viable model for building a critical, intercultural, and decolonial education by articulating school, territory, and ancestry.