Cognitive justice and curricular reexistence

beyond the BNCC and PISA

Abstract

This study critically analyzed the Brazilian National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) as devices of the coloniality of knowledge in Brazilian education. Recognizing that curricular and evaluative documents operated as political artifacts, the research identified how these instruments perpetuated epistemic hierarchies by marginalizing Indigenous, Afro-Brazilian, and community-based knowledge systems. Through a decolonial-oriented documentary analysis, mechanisms of epistemicide were examined, revealing how differences were folclorized and a Eurocentric canon was imposed. The findings showed that the BNCC homogenized curricula by disregarding territorial specificities, while PISA naturalized inequalities by turning diversities into measurable deficits. It was concluded that both reinforced colonial logics, highlighting the urgency of building alternatives based on cognitive justice, such as insurgent curricula and pluriepistemic assessment models capable of recognizing the validity of silenced epistemologies.