The Afro-Brazilian religions in school

The article approaches the representations of teachers that work in basic education, about the Afro-Brazilian religions. In order to do so, the study utilizes a qualitative method based on technical semi-structured interviews and in the analysis of the content. The conception of representation, formulated by theories that compose the culture studies, is a reference for the analysis of the vision of teachers about the Afro-Brazilian religions. For the culture studies, the representation connects meaning, language and culture. In the Brazilian educational system, the African and Afro-Brazilian cultures became obligatory in contents of basic education with the Law 10.639/2003, incorporated for the Law 11.645/2008. With the symbolic racism constituted in the history of Brazilian society are constructed stereotypical forms of representation and stigmas about the Afro-Brazilian religions. These stereotypical forms of representation can be observed in the perspectives of professionals of basic education that didn't have contact with knowledges about the African and Afro-Brazilian cultures. On the other side, the courses of continued formation propitiate a vision more comprehensive about the Afro-Brazilian religions and incipient forms of epistemological rupture in Brazilian education.