Iracema and the pedagogy of indigenous erasure: romantic literature, nation-building, and epistemic silencing

Abstract

This study investigates how a nineteenth-century romantic narrative contributes to the symbolic construction of the nation by assigning specific positions to the Indigenous figure, shaping parameters that continue to influence contemporary perceptions of identity and belonging. The research examines the novel as a cultural artefact that organises meanings and silences, allowing the analysis of epistemic erasure that permeates Brazilian social history and affects educational practices and institutional representations. The objective is to understand how the narrative produces frameworks that restrict Indigenous presence as a knowledge-bearing subject while reinforcing interpretative models associated with national formation. The methodology employs an analytical bibliographic review combined with an anthropological reading of the text and comparison with contemporary Indigenous productions, focusing on symbolic disputes that emerge between different regimes of knowledge. The study analyses the interplay between literature, coloniality and identity, highlighting tensions between hegemonic narratives and Indigenous expressions that reshape forms of enunciation. The analysis shows that current literary practices introduce shifts that challenge traditional references and bring forward epistemologies previously marginalised. The preliminary conclusion indicates that such productions broaden possibilities for critical interpretation by proposing alternative ways of understanding Indigenous peoples as historical, epistemic and political subjects. This work contributes to debates on representation, intercultural education and cognitive justice, encouraging reflections on pathways to overcome forms of erasure still present in national imaginaries.