History for Educators: The Object of Study in the Field of History

Abstract

Arranged in particular disciplines, areas express specific ways of looking at the "production of humanity" in each subject (Saviani, 1991). This reality has its "genesis" and development in the division between "manual"and "intellectual" labor. In considering the relevance of what is to be grasped in every area of knowledge for the formation of broad and subsequent generations, we start with announcement of the object of study of the knowledge that guides the productive, cultural and technical - scientific practices set in a particular historical time and place, and displayed institutionally in a curriculum. Here, we have chosen the field of history to investigate the object of its study. In doing so, we selected a universe of 103 history teachers from the school system in Londrina, Parana (Brazil) to answer questions on the specifics of this area. Having systematized the data, we compiled the results using Bardin's content analysis method (2004). Following this approach, we organized the data according to the frequency of the responses, selecting the words with significant categorical content for the area and with major incidence. Given the results, we adduce, in an introductory way, a convergence in the responses through the identification of an object significantly described in the regular discourse; that is, the central object of interest to be pursued by a certain generation of teachers in epistemic defense of the area of study on the subject: man in time. The study also identifies certain socially determinant trends - conveyed in academia and advanced courses -that are relevant as a source of analysis for recognizing the praxeological crux of the area of knowledge guiding a given curricular rationale.