THE IMPORTANCE OF ERNESTO LACLAU’S DISCOURSE THEORY AS A THEORETICAL APPROACH FOR ANALYZING CURRICULUM POLICIES FOR RURAL EDUCATION

Abstract

This article presents a critical essay on the importance of Discourse Theory for analyzing policies regarding Rural Education (Educação do Campo) from a post-structuralist theoretical perspective. This bibliographic study originated from a "State of Knowledge" review conducted at ANPEd, where we observed a scarcity of analyses concerning Rural Education policies—at both micro and macro levels—within these research dissemination spaces, effectively addressing a notable gap in the field. Throughout the text, we present post-structuralism as an analytical framework for Rural Education public policies—a theory that does not constitute a unified movement or a set of epistemological foundations seeking to identify universal structures. To this end, we conducted documentary and bibliographic research, drawing primarily on the work of Rodrigues and Mendonça (2008), Lopes (2013), and Cunha (2013), among others. We highlight that Rural Education policies are treated here as discourse, prompting a reflection on language, the subject, and history. Finally, we situate post-structuralism within Laclau’s (1993) perspective and address his critique of Marxism to understand the importance of analyzing policies in micro- and macro-social contexts through Discourse Theory; we identify post-structuralism as a theory that enables a more refined and pertinent analysis of the multiple possible social antagonisms, taking into account the infinite array of identities existing within the social realm.