The resistance of the Native Peoples to the Spanish conquest in textbooks for Elementary Schools in Argentina

Abstract

The curriculum prescriptions for Primary education in most jurisdictions in the Educational System of Argentina include the processing of America’s conquest from an updated perspective. There is a significant relevance in the diversity of responses offered by the native people and, in particular, the ways resistance was offered throughout the centuries, drawing special attention to different cases registered in the present Argentinian territory. As a possible indicator of this content in school classes, an analysis of its presence in school texts of higher circulation for 4th grade in elementary schools is carried out. A first approximation enables us to state that most textbooks analyzed include references to this topic. However, in many cases, the topics is very limited and does not reflect the complexity of the Spaniard conquest in America. It is rather surprising how many textbooks lack of a serious criticism against the perspective of the conquerors. On the contrary, a paper issued by the Ministry of Education as well as from some editorial proposals, incorporate the content in depth, adopting a renewed approach.