The family as an object of study by Inep between the years 1940-1970: an initial mapping

Abstract

The current study focused on mapping the research conducted by Inep (National Institute for Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira) between 1940 and 1970 addressing the family theme. Employing historical research methodology, we sought, organized, and constructed a documentary corpus consisting of 25 documents, including research studies, two curricular proposals, as well as recordings of events, which are kept in Inep’s Historical Archive. In analyzing this collection, it was possible to observe that the theme of the family was gradually incorporated into the Institute’s research agenda. Dialoguing with research methods that were prevalent at the time, but also with governmental ideologies, the documented studies involved Brazilian and foreign researchers, who, for the most part, sought – through studies and diagnoses and using the idealized model of the urban middle-class family – to think of ways to intervene with families, particularly
those from lower social classes, to modify their habits and improve educational outcomes. The results of this preliminary study paint a vivid and complex picture of the realities experienced by Brazilian families, from the Vargas era to the civil-military dictatorship, revealing that, often from a classist and interventionist bias, these families were on the radar of those formulating educational policies in the country, often being considered the cause of the success or failure of these policies.