Language, identity, and otherness: a study about relations between Brazilian and Bolivian students in a school in São Paulo

Abstract

The migratory flow of Bolivians to the city of São Paulo begins to be noticed in the 1990s. Even though it was established in the city a few decades ago, the Bolivian colony still faces many difficulties interacting with Brazilians. This is also observed in the school environment. As a result of an ethnography made in a Municipal Public School in São Paulo, where there are a considerable number of Bolivian students, this article intends to discuss the relations between Bolivian and Brazilian students and how language is seen as an element that organizes the cultural identity and classifies the alterity between them in the school space. Language becomes not only a means of communication but also how the Bolivian migrant students are stereotyped concerning their social condition, social habits and the place in the imaginary of the society where they are inserted. The analysis shows that the Bolivian students’ language is seen by Brazilian teachers and students as a cultural “defect” Therefore, cultural pluralism is restricted to the language and seen as something to be overcome to give way to the hegemonic language. Thus, Bolivian students are labeled as illiterate, even though they are in the initial process of literacy. School practice is based on the idea of adapting Bolivians to the school environment, considered as homogenous and homogenizing, contrary to the perspective of intercultural education. There is recognition of otherness, but it is seen negatively and the identity of Bolivians is stigmatized.