Textbooks as sources for research in the history of school geography

Textbooks are a material constantly present in classrooms. As a source of research on the history of school subjects, they gained greater prominence worldwide from the 1980s onwards. They are materials that are added to school culture and refer to both schooling and education processes. Reflecting on textbooks as sources of research in the History of Scholar Geography implies moving from a conception of them as a mere depository of "discourses", to that of a constructor of discourses and social visions of the world, for example, concerning Brazil and the processes of (re)production of their territories. The discussion about textbooks, then, uses examples of textbooks published during the Estado Novo (1930-1945), a moment of structuring of the national education system and institutionalisation of Geography in Brazil. By using textbooks as a research source, we propose that they be linked to broader processes, educational legislation and school cultures.