Paper short abstract:

Problematize some elements of the political and educational recent years considering in 2013 it completes ten years from the publication of Law 10639, which requires the teaching of History and Afro-Brazilian and African basic education in Brazil. Discuss changes and challenges still present.

Paper long abstract:

This article discusses the issue of ethnic and racial relations in the Brazilian context in which we are celebrating ten years of approval of Law 10639/03, which made compulsory the teaching of History and Culture Afro-Brazilian and African basic education in the country. Brazil, more than restate its historical origin through the triad of Europeans, Indians and Africans also need to reflect on what is the "social space" occupied by Africa and their descendants in his social imaginary. After all, if one side of the black population is constantly discursively excluded in the country, on the other, it and brands are present in almost everything we see around us. To reflect on this, we first briefly review the advances from the translation into Portuguese of the volumes of the General History of Africa, organized by UNESCO, which has been essential for the implementation of Law 10639/03. Completing the sociological analysis, we also discussed the challenges in a country like Brazil, which is still disentangling off the myth that would be a country free from racism. Therefore, a rescue controversial case occurred in 2010, and is still very much alive, on the complaint of racism present in the work Hunts Pedrinho, written by Monteiro Lobato. The discussions surrounding this case, involving the Ministry of Education, researchers, teachers, non-governmental organizations and the Supreme Court seem to demonstrate how troubled has been the theme of racism and education of ethnic and racial relations in Brazilian society.