"Empowering School Communities: Navigating Ethical-Political-Suffering through Engaged Multiliteracies"

This research is embedded in the extension project "BRINCADAS: BUILDING INVESTIGATION AND ACTION GROUPS," coordinated by Professor Fernanda Coelho Liberali. It takes place at CEU EMEF Perus school, where I serve as a principal/trainer that aims a counter colonial school management. The project was initiated in response to the ethical-political-suffering experienced by the school community, using engaged multiliteracy practices (Liberali, 2023) and playful activities as tools to foster agency and empowerment among its members.The primary aim of this project is to stimulate the agency of various actors within the school community, promoting the development of an anti-racist and inclusive educational environment that upholds diversity as a core principle. Specifically, the project seeks to encourage active community participation in creating intersectional strategies (Akotirene, 2018) to address various forms of ethical-political suffering. The research is deeply rooted in the theoretical frameworks of Critical Literacy of Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Class (Ferreira, 2012, 2014, 2015) and is informed by critical discussions on race, inequality, and power dynamics, as articulated by scholars such as Carneiro (2012) and Fanon (2022). The methodology employed is Critical Collaborative Research (PCCol) (Magalhães, 2009, 2011), which emphasizes the creation of contexts that promote active participation and foster collective transformation. Throughout the research process, the school community identified significant challenges, such as waste accumulation and improper disposal. These issues were exacerbated by an insufficient number of cleaning staff, who were predominantly Black women and men. In response, the community implemented several initiatives, including lectures on proper waste disposal, recycled toy workshops led by older students, and advocacy efforts directed at public officials, which successfully resulted in improvements to the school's waste management infrastructure. This year, the school actors are working on build a relationship with other schools and public representants to build what is being called: “Perus Green Belt”.