For an Another Middle Ages: The Decolonial Perspective as a Counterpoint to the Colonization of the Middle Ages in Textbooks (2004–2010)
Middle Ages; decolonialism; Gender Studies; Connected Middle Ages; textbooks; Christine de Pizan.
Object of colonization by all spheres of our society, the chronological framework of the Middle Ages has multiples representations in our daily life, whether in movies, series, games, memes, toys, political speeches, among others. Based on the understanding that textbooks are a specific type of neomedievalism, it is possible to perceive that these school manuals do not aim to deconstruct the recurring colonization of the temporal framework by everyday life. On the contrary, they create yet another of these representations by depicting a Middle Ages that is white, male, heteronormative, Christian, feudal, European, and, above all, exclusionary. This study, therefore, aims to analyze the process of colonization experienced by the temporal framework of the Middle Ages in textbooks from 1997 to 2014, all intended for high school classes. Furthermore, by using the book “The City of Ladies” (1405), by Christine de Pizan, as a pedagogical tool, we propose the teaching of an another Middle Ages in basic education through the use of decolonialism, articulated with the theoretical fields of Gender Studies and the Connected Middle Ages