ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes to read this context of dissensus as an example of what Santos called 'lazy reason' where dominant forms of thinking have difficulty in understanding (and 'waste') other, non-Eurocentric, and non-hegemonic forms of reason which abound within the Brazilian nation. It explains to problematize the readings of the indigenous rejection of indigenous educational policy, and to problematize the indigenous preference for a school containing mainstream knowledges and the national language—Portuguese. The chapter focuses on the ethical issues of this conflict of interpretations, issues where in the name of emancipation and social equity, social practices similar in outcome to previous colonial practices of the elimination of difference may be unwittingly pursued. It suggests that what needs to be considered in order to come to terms with the complexity of the situation, is, on the one hand, an epistemic issue, and on the other hand, an ethical issue.
