“Dia por dia, milagre por milagre”|: Luteranismo e Educação de Surdos na Escola Especial Concórdia (1966-1996)

Abstract

This present Master's thesis aims to analyze the educational and institutional path of the Escola Especial Concórdia. This learning institution was established in Porto Alegre, capital of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, by Naomi Warth and Carlos Martin Warth, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil, keeping their educational project linked to Lutheran principles. The timeline established for this study begins in 1966, when the educational institution was founded, and ends in 1996, when the school joined the private educational network of the Lutheran University of Brazil. By focusing on a special educational institution, the present thesis drew upon authors which study História da Educação Especial (History of Special Education; BUENO, 1993; GLAT, 2005; SIEMS-MERCONDES, 2013; LACERDA, 1998; BEZERRA, 2020), as well as engaged with surrounding subjects, such as História das Instituições Educativas (History of Educational Institutions; MAGALHÃES, 2004), História Cultural (Cultural History; CHARTIER, 2002; PESAVENTO, 2013), História Oral (Oral History; THOMPSON, 1998; PORTELLI, 2010) and considerations regarding concepts of Memory (HALBWACHS, 1990; 2003; SANTOS, 2002), Lutheranism (WEIDUSCHADT, 2007), Transnationalism (VERA, 2021; REVEL, 2011), Dispositive (FOUCAULT, 1996) and Strategy (CERTEAU,1994). In regard to sources, this study counted on documents from the institution itself, such as school records, education programs excerpts, documents of scholar bookkeepings and pictures. In addition to that, three individuals who studied at the school integrated this thesis by means of a narrative of their memories. The analysis of this documentary framework emphasized that the Escola Especial Concórdia promoted an educational area, going through different types of change from the approaches focused on deaf education. Such precepts reverberated upon different learning environments and were considered appropriate to the context at the time. Even so, the institution did not refrain from keeping their educational project linked to religion and under the authority and influence of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil. The narratives of the three individuals, aligned with pictures, endorse such prerogative. By means of memories, it came to light that Lutheranism was registered within the operationalization of the educational institution, engaging their employees, students and family members. By promoting an educational and religious area, the Escola Especial Concórdia undertook an evangelizing mission as strategy from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil as an institution, which looked for their students to become members of Lutheranism. On the other hand, having religion as a dispositive, it ended up projecting a place for inclusion to deaf people who, without the work developed by the school, would not have other opportunities for interaction. Therefore, the Escola Especial Concórdia designed, from their employees commitment and students engagement, some sense of community and deaf identity as an outcome of its founding campaign.