João Vicente Martins and the Teaching of Reading and Writing to Children in Brazil in the XIX Century

Abstract

Abstract Based on an analysis of a school textbook produced by Joo Vicente Martins in 1854, this article aims to understand the history of schooling in Brazil in the second half of the nineteenth century, notably in the elements of teaching reading and writing to children. Martins launched himself into the publishing market with Cartilha de Leitura repentina, ou plágio do Método Castilho, in an attempt to bring together the ideals of two important forerunners of the debate about methods for teaching the mother tongue engaged with the universalization of elementary education: the Frenchman Joseph Jacotot and the Portuguese António Feliciano Castilho. Takins as a source, above all the periodical press and the productions of Castilho and Martins, the analysis carried out was organized around two main aspects: the biography of the latter author and the materiality of his textbook. It is concluded, that, although it announces the elaboration of a plagiarism of the Castilho method, the work undertaken by João Vicente Martins presented his ideals about the child schooling in the Brazilian context of clashes between techniques of teaching reading and writing in the nineteenth century.