"INDIOS", "ABORÍGENES" Y "PUEBLOS ORIGINARIOS" SOBRE EL CAMBIO DE CONCEPTOS Y LA CONTINUIDAD DE LAS CONCEPCIONES ESCOLARES.

In this work I present the results of a recently finished research on the contents of social sciences in primary school, developed in the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires. In the article, I reflect on the the lines of continuity and discontinuity in the way the theme "aboriginal societies" was approached before the recent curriculum changes and the way it is approached today. Through the analysis of curriculum, texts, teachers' discourses and students' comments, I point out the complex coexistence of school nationalism and diverse indigenous versions that circulate in schools. I pay attention to the coexistence of relativist conceptions, when aboriginal societies are considered as isolated units, and ethnocentric conceptions when their relation with "western" society is considered. In the analysis of school classes I refer to the dangers of using comparisons, which instead of relativizing students' familiar social patterns, reinforce the idea of the subjects own culture as universal parameter. Finally I argue about the dangers of the simplifications and difficulties when moving students' conceptions and prejudices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]