The mandatory school uniform of Liceu Maranhense in the records of the newspaper Pacotilha (1894-1898)

Abstract

This study approaches the process of formalization of the school uniform at Liceu Maranhense, using as the main source, the news published in the local press between 1894-1898, in order to understand the initial positions on its obligatoriness in the social dynamics established in the institution. . The question is: to what extent can the representations about the obligation of official Liceu Maranhense clothing recorded by the newspaper Pacotilha, from the perspective of school material culture, have influenced the processes of production, indication, approval, distribution and use of this clothing? The research is characterized as bibliographical and documentary, in which conceptions and positions found in the specialized literature are crossed with official documents: the Maranhense Republican Legislation, the Public Instruction Regulations (national and local) and the State Messages that although not neutral, they record facts, facts and sayings interrogated and analyzed in the light of the theoretical-methodological assumptions of Cultural History. It is concluded that, although the school uniform has the same objective in terms of access to instruction for all students, even so, its obligatoriness represents different effects for each group of students in the Lyceum; local plots of secondary education in Maranhão that can contribute to the History of Education, by adding to the national discussion, peculiarities of its development from a regional perspective.