ABSTRACT
This chapter describes and discusses how social and economic inequality impacts on young Brazilian children (under 6 years of age). Brazil was a Portuguese colony from 1500 to 1822. Portuguese society was rigidly structured, 'centred in hierarchy, founded in religion; service to God and service to the king were the parameters of social activity'. There is a literature on early childhood care and education (ECCE), infant and child mortality and malnutrition. Writing on childhood by academics, activists and Brazilian governmental agencies shows the same bias as writing from northern hemisphere about southern hemisphere: the focus is to treat social inequality from the point of view of the dominated rather than the dominant. Two Brazilian organizations presently stand out as advocacy organizations for young children: the Interforum Movement for Early Childhood Care and Education of Brazil (MIEIB) and Pastoral Commission for Children. The enslavement of Africans lasted for more than three centuries and Brazil was the last country to abolish it.
