Play brigade project Brincadas as insurgent pedagogy: play, agency, and transformation in the context of BRICS+ education

This article presents the Brincadas-COLINA project, a Brazilian educational initiative that emerges at the intersection of geopolitical changes and epistemic reconfigurations in BRICS+ societies. Based on the principles of engaged multiliteracy, curriculum de-encapsulation, and Insurgent Pedagogy[1], the project brings together children, educators, and families from quilombola, indigenous, and urban periphery communities in collective learning experiences. In this article, we focus on the first Brincadas session in 2023. Data were analyzed through videos, photos, interviews, artistic productions, and collaborative reflections. Data analysis was carried out through critical reflection actions: describe, inform, confront, and reconstruct (Smyth, 1989). The results demonstrate how artistic, dialogical, and embodied activities allowed participants to resignify ethical-political suffering and exercise collective agency. By situating Brincadas within broader pedagogical movements in the Global South, this study contributes to theorizing education as a tool and outcome for social and epistemic justice. [1] Translator’s note: Insurgent Pedagogy is a term describing an educational approach that opposes traditional, authoritarian, or oppressive teaching methods. It focuses on developing critical thinking, resisting social and political injustices, and actively engaging students in the process of knowledge creation and social transformation.