Religious fundamentalisms & Education: literary education and human rights

Abstract

The objective of the research on which this article is based is to contribute to knowledge about and a diagnosis of forms of violence, including sexual abuse, in contexts of “religious fundamentalism” from a cultural, historical, and sociological perspective. The study began by looking for the life histories of women who suffered some type of violence under these circumstances in childhood or adolescence. Based on these narratives the study conducted a survey of research that addresses issues of childhood, “religious fundamentalism” and the theme of violence in these contexts to deepen theoretical discussions about the issue, always considering possibilities for discussions about the role of education in this realm. The methodology involved the collection of life stories of women by creating a blog specifically to serve as a digital tool for creating, collecting, and promoting the stories in the context of this research. A microblog (Twitter) was used as a tool for promotion and participation, to support discussion about the issue of “religious fundamentalisms”. The results allowed concluding that education and Christian Fundamentalism meet in that which we call in the study “a pedagogy of fear”. Thus, to consider the role of education in the context of the issue studied, this article presents education in literary reading as essential education, given that to educate readers of literature is to contribute to the understanding of an important type of human knowledge, that is, it is to relate this education to human rights CÂNDIDO, 2004).