Cultural heritage in the classroom: reflections on the use of participatory methodologies in university extension actions

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the experience of an extension action developed by the Federal University of Alagoas, in Brazil, at a school located in the dry lands of the state of Alagoas. It involved the reflection on trajectories and concepts related to the Brazilian cultural heritage field and the importance of participatory methodologies to knowledge production in schools. In order to reach the proposed goal, the methodology used was the Inventário Nacional de Referências Culturais [National Inventory of Cultural References], a participatory methodology of qualitative and ethnographic nature, made available by the Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional [National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage] – IPHAN. Final considerations point at two observations: first, the importance of university extension to stimulate scientific research in elementary education; and second, the potential role of the National Inventory of Cultural References in encouraging a critical and citizenship-oriented education in schools.