The slave trade and colonial Brazil: relations designed for teaching history in the light of Manolo Florentino and Walter Benjamin

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to summarize the notions and proportions regarding the slave trade that occurred in colonial Brazil, based on the concepts exposed by Manolo Florentino (1958-2021) in his text 'Aspects of the Black Traffic in West Africa (c.1500-c . 1800)' and think about its relationships and applications with the teaching of history in the 21st century, in light of the perspective of Walter Benjamin (1892-1940), especially when it comes to perceiving and listening to the voices of those who, historically, were not heard. To do this, we will use the essays produced by Leandro Couto Carreira Ricon and Luiz Henrique Bechtllufft Bade, namely: Benjaminian Messianism and its relationship with education in history (2022) and History and Teaching: an essay against the grain (2021). That said, the relationship between colonial slave-owning Brazil and traditional pedagogy will initially be introduced, based on Alberto da Costa e Silva (2011) and Claudia R. B. S Moreira; José Antonio Vasconcelos (2007), moving on to the analysis of Manolo’s text in the subchapters ‘the Portuguese expansion’ and ‘the slave trade’. Afterwards, it seeks to relate Walter Benjamin with what was discussed from the logic of brushing history against the grain, and finally, the elements already mentioned will be related to contemporary educational practices and their future possibilities.