Constructing spaces of coexistence: visual representations of featured maths texbooks

Abstract

This article, which is the result of research into the representation of the Other in textbooks, aims to explain how the visual representations in textbooks represent the differences and to inventory the meanings that are set in motion, in order to examine how these books can contribute to the construction of an ambience that is conducive to the coexistence of difference in the educational context. Thus, within the scope of this article, we present reflections on the Other, the stranger, from Bauman's perspective; aspects of peircean semiotics that underpin the classification of figurative visual forms proposed by Santaella, from which the visual representations of the mathematics collections recommended by the Programa Nacional Programa Nacional do Livro e de Material Didático – PNLD 2020 – Ensino Fundamental II are analysed. Among the results, we highlight the preponderance of figurative visual forms as a record, which lead the interpreter to the observation of differences, as well as contributing to the construction of an ambience in which differences coexist amid solidarity and cordiality.