Introduction

The Republic of Paraguay is a country located in central South America, bordered to the north and west by Bolivia, northeast and east by Brazil, and south and west by Argentina. Paraguay has an area of 406 752 square kilometers, slightly larger than the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The Paraguayan population was estimated at about 6.9 million inhabitants in 2014, most of which are concentrated in the region. southeast of the country¹. The capital and largest city of Paraguay is Asuncion. The culture and native language of the Guarani country remained highly influential in society. Guarani is recognized as an official language, along with Spanish, and both languages are spoken by the population.

Although Paraguay borders Brazil, we Brazilians are unaware of the culture and history of the neighboring country. In this sense, the general objective of this article is to reconstruct the genesis of education in Paraguay, more specifically to reveal the contribution of the Catholic religious order Jesuit Company in this process. This work is part of a larger study of the Society of Jesus, which resulted in my master's thesis in education: The Paraguayan Jesuit Reductions: Cultural, Economic, and Educational Life. Presented at the Federal University of Matogrosso do Sul (UFMS) in 2008. As a member of the State and Public Policy research line of the Graduate Program in Education.

The research aims to insert education within the context of social-historical development of the region where the UFMS is located, given that the region where the state of Mato Grosso do Sul is located, in the delimited period, belonged to the Province of Paraguay, and concerned by the rat of Tordesillas (1494) the Spanish crown. Thus, we seek to problematize the specific relationships and interrelationships of the genesis of Paraguayan education inserted in a general context. One of the reasons that led us to carry out this research was that in the history of education, research has been particularly uncompromising in its analysis of the Catholic Church's relations with: the creation of modern science, the research in education of the time, and the transition from feudalism. for capitalism. However, the most recent works help to review the importance of this ecclesial institution for science and modern scientific reflection in the birth of capitalism.

However, the most recent works help to review the importance of this ecclesial institution for science and modern scientific reflection in the birth of capitalism. As for the Society of Jesus, there is also a huge variety of interpretations of its works, both with the Indians in the missions, and in the area of education, whether in European countries or countries that were colonized that deserve to be clarified in order to assess their weight on the history of the development of capitalism. Another reason that led us to develop this work was the total lack of interest on the part of Brazilian society to know the culture and history of our neighbors. In this sense, this article aims to rescue the history of education of Paraguay and the contribution of the Jesuits in this historical process. The research was based on data collection from documentary and bibliographic sources. The chroniclers of the Society of Jesus, despite their unilateral view, make a significant contribution, as they were the actors in the main episodes of the Jesuit reductions, and many of these chroniclers were founders of various reductions. Among the chroniclers of the Society of Jesus were necessary sources for this work: Antonio Seep, Guilhermo Furlong and Antonio Astrain.

In the eighteenth century, many chroniclers were concerned with reporting the social production of the Paraguayan Jesuit reductions. These reports were in many cases made effective by visiting these chroniclers on the spot, and in other cases through information obtained by travelers. From the eighteenth century chroniclers we can highlight the contributions of Antonio Ludovico Muratori, who presents a balanced account of the Jesuit reductions.

Through a culturalism view, this chronicler describes the social production of Jesuit reductions in various aspects, especially the educational issue. Another commentator who makes a significant contribution to this work is Father Chaerlevoix who gives a critical account of Ignatian action in the Province of Paraguay. Despite the fact that Chaerlevoix's work was not a direct witness to the facts he describes, the basis of his work is based on reports from his contemporaries. Chaerlevoix's work loses some interest as it reports facts not always on a documentary basis. The information extracted from Chaerlevoix's work was used in this work from the intersection of these with other sources and those based on documentary evidence. Among the historiographical sources stand out the works of Regina Maria A. F. ^{Gadelha (1980}), Maxime ^{Haubert (1990}) and Clovis ^{Lugon (1977}).

These three historiographical works present a complete radiograph of the Jesuit reductions. Based on documentary sources, the three authors make a huge contribution to the historical understanding of colonial Paraguay. The theoretical perspective within this work was to enter the methodological path explained by Karl Marx, starting from the method and interpretation of capitalism: historical and dialectical materialism. The theoretical-methodological option aims to give historicity to the analysis seeking to escape the dominant approach. In giving the object historicity, it is necessary for this appreciation to unravel the contradictions and antagonisms resulting from the European conquest, thus describing the particularities of these relations in the spatiality of reduction.

The object of this appraisal will focus on the constitutive categories of Marxist theory, and as a result of the elected approach, the categories wholeness, historicity, commodity, labor, capital, state, ideology, labor force are of central importance in the analysis. And although not exclusive, when emphasized, they provide the expression of the methodological theoretical aspects necessary for the comprehension of the object. The paper is structured as follows: in the introduction, we present the relevance of the theme. In the first chapter, we have historically demarcated the arrival of the first Jesuits in Paraguay in 1588 describing the geographic extent and economic base of Paraguay from the colonial period. In the second chapter, we present a brief study on the history of Paraguayan education in the colonial period. In the third chapter, we analyze the contribution of the Jesuits to the establishment of social codes of the western world with the original peoples. We conclude that the Jesuits were important instruments in the creation and consolidation of colonial relations in the new world. This contribution was made in commercial mercantilism, the exploitation of agriculture, the raising of cattle, the effective participation in the purchase and sale of slaves and the promulgation of Christian culture to the peoples of Latin America. Thus, we revealed that the genesis of Paraguayan education was intertwined with this process.

1. Paraguay in the colonial period

^{Aréco (2008}) clarifies that the Paraguayan Governance and Province covered, in the colonial period, an extensive territory that currently belongs to Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Bolivia. In that historical context, Paraguay had jurisdiction over the current Brazilian states of Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, southern Mato Grosso (currently Mato Grosso do Sul) and part of the Mato Grosso Pantanal, rising up the Amazon basin. Aréco (2008) clarifies that the economic base that settled in Paraguay, from the European invasion, had in its center the exploitation of natural resources. However, the circulation of these goods on the world market was not significant, as this region was very far from the major European and Asian consumer markets. The incipient regional production poorly served the local market. At the regional level, the most significant market was the Vice Kingdom of Peru, as in this region there was a flourishing market, with the discovery and extraction of gold and silver². The city of Potosí, which is currently located in Bolivian territory, was a large market for the circulation of goods, with an intense extraction of silver. As ^{Schürmann explains (1999}, p.174):

The extraction of precious metals for export in Spanish America stimulated the development of an urban economy, where the founding program of cities was its basic strategy. The viability of this economy generated urban centers specialized in commercial, export and interregional, and industrial activities, with manufactures of various branches, from the construction of ships in the ports of Guayaquil to works, fabric factories that mainly employed Indian women.

Paraguay in that historical period had no gold or silver mines. The main "wealth" that Spanish settlers found in Paraguay was the indigenous labor force. Thus, the Spanish invaders, called encomenderos³, were the first to appropriate the indigenous labor force. ^{Benitez (1981}) reports that the first Jesuits who arrived in Paraguay in 1588 came from Brazil, at the request of Bishop Alonso da Guerra. The following Jesuits were: Father Leonardo Armini, Juan Saloni, Thomas Fields, Manuel Ortega and Esteban Grao, who joined Fathers Francisco de Angulo and Martial de Lorenzana from Peru. ^{Astrain (1996}) clarifies that these missionaries began their preaching among the Indians and whites in Asunción, Guairá, Villarica, Ciudad Real, reaching Xerez in Itatim Province. Since the arrival, the Spanish priests have not lacked funding. Father Ortega received the first land donations in 1594, made by Lieutenant General Guairá Rui Diaz Gusman, lands in the province of Villarica. The Jesuits took possession of these lands on July 20, 1595 in the presence of the Ordinary Mayor and the Town Clerk. The Society of Jesus was not the first religious order to operate in Paraguay, preceded them by secular clerics and members of other religious orders. Benitez (1981, p. 17-18) clarifies:

Debe recordase que desde la fundación mísma de la Asunción, los religiosos trabajaron hombro a hombro con los conquistadores em la tarea de incorporación de la problación nativa a la vida civilizada. Fundación de “reducciones” y pueblos, catequización, organización de la familia de acuerdo a los principíos de la religión católica, constituyen apenas un esquema de la grande y sacrificado labor de mercedários, jerónimos, dominicos e franciscanos, y jesuítas luego, en los arduos dias iniciales de la conquista y colonización.

^{Benitez (1981}) asserts that in 1604, the Jesuit Province of Paraguay was created and since then the influence of the missionaries of this order in Paraguay has grown. Catechetical and missionary action prospered, but the extension of the Province caused serious obstacles, hindering its government and the maintenance of the work, because even with the support of the local government, the long distances and the difficulty of locomotion created great hindrance.

2. Brief History of Paraguayan Education

^{Benitez (1981}) presents an important study on the history of Paraguayan education in the colonial period. Noting that at the time of the Spanish invasion, of course, education was not the central objective of the conquerors. Therefore, in the early years of the conquest, there was no educational action program to be developed in Paraguay and Rio da Prata. According to Benitez (1981), after a few decades the basic instructions began to arouse interest from the already established colonial authorities (governors and cabildos). Education could not be the aim and concern of the first conquerors in the early 16th century, as they came to the province of Paraguay in search of gold and silver. Faced with the Paraguayan reality and, consequently, the absence of gold and silver, the Spanish settled in the region seeking to exploit the land and the indigenous labor force through the "mita" and "encomienda". When the invaders were established, they started to establish families. From the demographic increase of Spanish and mestizo children, local authorities became interested in the educational issue. First timidly through the Cabildo de Asunción and some governors, but the main stakeholders were the Religious Orders.

According to ^{Benitez (1981}), Domingo Martinez Irala created, in the first period of colonization, the first schools and "doctrines" that were under the responsibility of the religious. Later, Governor Hernandarias de Saavedra had the initiative, with the incorporation of the Company, to create educational institutions, already in the first quarter of the 17th century. Benitez (1981) clarifies that the struggle for the implantation of the first University arose with Jaime Sanjust already in the second half of the eighteenth century. However, it was Augustin de Pinedo who made repeated efforts to obtain a university qualification, but his claim was below expectations. The 1776 Royal Ballot authorized only the opening of a College-Seminary, which was St. Charles's, frustrating the prospect of the local elite who longed for a University. Benitez (1981) describes that the Royal College of St. Charles was inaugurated in 1783, under the government of Pedro Melo of Portugal, adopting various provisions to normalize its operation. Another project related to education was presented by Lazáro de Rivera in 1796, which provided for the introduction of a Royal Primer as a learning text in elementary schools. Benitez (1981, p. 10) clarifies:

Debe señalarse que algunos monarcas: Carlos V, Felipe II, Felipe IV, Carlos III; produjeron instrucciones para a educación de los indígenas, en las que se recomendaba especialmente la utilización del idioma castellano como instrumento educativo particularmente para la enseñanza de la doctrina Cristiana. En la práctica, aquellas instrucciones no tuvieron vigencia, pues los indígenas opusieron tenaz negativa al aprendizaje del idioma español. En consecuencia, la norma fue el aprendizaje del idioma guaraní por los misioneros, como medio de comunicación e integración cultural, pues hasta catecismo y libros imprimieron en el idioma autóctono.

The kings of Spain and the colonial governors, during this historical process of more than two centuries, expressed little concern about the educational issue. With the lack of definite purpose in the field of education, caused by the numerous structural difficulties, such as the lack of teachers, accompanied by the dispersion of the population and the precariousness of communications inhibited the initiatives.

Finally, there was no political interest of the metropolis in developing a project in this sense. For most of the population was indigenous, for the colonizer their interest, according to Meliá (1997, p. 34) was another:

Es un hecho que hasta ahora la civilización occidental, en vez de otorgar a los indios una situación de miembros dignos y conscientes de la sociedad dominante, ha despojado a los indios de su identidad cultural para convertirlos en sujetos dependientes de los colonos, y en muchos casos sus esclavos.

In general, due to great misery in which they lived most of the population has become almost impossible to widespread use of the free chair resort and only a tiny minority of young Paraguayans (local elite children) get out to do their studies outside the province .

Despite the general unconcern of the rulers, the Cabildo de Asunción showed a little interest in this subject during the colonial period. These facts presented by ^{Benitez (1981}, p. 11):

El cabildo asunceno fue tomando iniciativas y disposiciones en beneficio de la educación en la Província; asi por ej. ortogo solares, proveyó locales, procuró y costéo maestros, tomó a su cargo la fiscalización de la administración educacional, autorizando el desempeño de los maestros y fijando emolumentos y responsabilidades. El Cabildo alentó el desarrollo de la educación en toda la provincia, no solamente la creación de escuelas de primeras letras sino también otorgando facilidades para la instalación de instituciones del nivel superior e las simples escuelas elementares.

According to Benitez, whose source is the National Archives of Paraguay, for the qualification of the Jesuit College in the 17th century, the Cabildo de Asunción provided the building and provided other facilities for the installation of the college. However, soon the Jesuits had to close the school. In 1630 the Jesuits clashed with the settlers over encomienda issues and were expelled from the city of Asuncion. ^{Astrain (1996}, p. 63) describes the episode:

Algo más de tres meses, según escribe el P. Torres duró esta persecución y trabajo en el colegio de la Asunción. Al cabo, ya con la paciencia de los Padres ya porque los ánimos se fuesen poco a poco apaciguando, cesó la tempestad y vino la bonanza por medio de un caballero muy ilustre, que era voz común, quien tenía más indios encomendados en todo el Paraguay.

Because of the closure of the Jesuit College of Asunción, in this three-month period, the Cabildo enabled the city council itself to operate a school. ^{Benitez (1981}, p. 12) describes an important aspect of the Paraguayan school's genesis: “[...] educación durante la colonia era solamente para los varones, las niñas que tenía expresa prohibición de ser admitidas en escuelas de varones, por lo general crecieron analfabetas con sólo la instrucción religiosa y labores hogoreñas”.

We can say that, in that historical context, the materialization of education in Paraguay presented profound structural difficulties intertwined by cultural aspects, marked by gender and ethnic impediments, which are characteristic of its historical time. In summary, we can emphasize that the 17th century Paraguay evidently did not go to Pericles' Athens in terms of education. However, these historical stages were slowly surpassed by the localized action of sectors of society in Colonial Paraguay.

Especially the Religious Orders, however, the difficulties were innumerable, highlighting the lack of resources and an educational project. It would be too simple to reduce the meaning of this brief analysis of the history of Paraguayan education to a question of relations between structure and superstructure. The challenge of this examination starts from Marx's theoretical framework (apud^{Manacorda, 1996}, p. 97), which is to seek to establish a relationship at least triple. Namely: a) detecting a “real basis”, given by the set of production relations, which, in Paraguay's reality, already presupposes “a certain degree of development of the material productive forces” and constitute “the economic structure of society”. b) And consequently, the implementation of a whole “juridical and political superstructure” that was built on colonial Paraguay and on this basis corresponded, the third relation. c) “Certain forms of social conscience”, which has as its locus the Province of Paraguay.

The city of Asuncion is the elucidative archetype of this triple relationship, the core of the Spanish conquest expression of the Spanish / Guarani contradiction. The real basis of the set of production relations was the exploitation of the indigenous labor force. The relation of production arose in the contradiction of the explorer (encomendero) and the exploited (Indian). The development of the productive forces was based on the production of primary commodities with little added value, which served an incipient regional economy in the genesis of primitive capital accumulation. In that historical social context the determined forms of consciousness announce the contradiction between conqueror and conquered. Under the hegemony of the conqueror it establishes indigenous population nuclei (pueblos). The natives were no longer the same as those of the early years of the conquest, they were of another generation, the result of genocide, mestizaje, and acculturated by the dominant. The population nuclei are gradually organized under the aegis of a juridical superstructure that manifests itself in the laws of the Indies and in the Alfaro Ordanza. And in the political action that emerges in the provincial organization in the figure of governors and cabildos.

The religious and educational field is intertwined forming an amalgam this synthesis will be responsible for inserting the dominated in the social codes of the dominant society, as a social organization. Establishing a new archetype for the simple things of everyday life such as house architecture, dress, economy, religion, etc. ^{Medeiros (2010}, p.59) provides an illustrative example of this process:

The cities after 1570 followed the detailed guidelines contained in the Indian Law, which guided every detail of the city. This detailed urbanistic code must be attributed to the unity of many of the outlines of the Hispanic cities in America, especially in relation to two particularities: the Plaza Mayor and the Orthogonal Mesh. Among other things, the Laws determined how to choose the location for the settlement; it dealt with the inhabitants and administrative structure; land distribution, trade and defense; the construction of temples, squares and public buildings, the shape and size of the streets and houses.

Therefore, these relations are historical and the antagonism is announced under the hegemony of the ruling class, which paradoxically instituted the encomienda and through the ordinances established the "obligation" to instruct the indigenous. ^{Benitez reveals (1981}, p. 14):

[...] la del gobernador Domingo Martínez Irala, fecha 14 de mayo de 1556, para “... el bien provechoso, conservación, doctrina y enseñamiento de los dichos indios...” los encomenderos quedaban obligados a trátalos”... como a prójimos, instruyéndolos y doctrinándolos... y que las tales personas (los encomenderos) procuren tener en sus casas dos o tres niños de diez años abajo de los de su encomienda, para que aprendan la doctrina cristiana y vean y entiendan las cosas de Dios y de su santa iglesia[...].

The contradiction marks the process of westernization of Amerindian culture and it is from this perspective that, besides colonization, acquires great significance the religious and political enterprise that will be attributed to the Jesuits, which would act in function of a “correction of culture”, which in the Eurocentric vision was perverted but not absent. From this worldview, that was actually the expression of the Roman curia, as ^{Reese (1999}, p. 158) clarifies:

Voltando ao século XVI, o sistema consistório, em que os cardeais enquanto grupo aconselhava o papa, estava desaparecendo. Os comitês ou congregações de cardeais eram formados para estudar determinadas questões e relatá-las ao papa. Em consequência da reforma, a primeira congregação permanente, o Tribunal da Inquisição Romana e Universal foi estabelecido em 1542 para lidar com questões da fé e heresia.

In the province of Paraguay, the intertwining of religion and education, therefore, takes on a particular shape, but it is embedded in the universality of Roman Christianity. In that historical social context, these two aspects are indivisible, such that the Jesuit words and education have become synonymous. In the various ordinances, the concern of governors with aspects of the imposition of Western cultural codes on the native population is explicit. Governor Hernandarias de Saavedra who ruled Paraguay from 1598/1603. Despite all previous provisions to support through indigenous labor force “laws”, this concern is expressed in its Ordinance of 1603. ^{Benitez (1981}, p. 15) describes:

A respecto, el gran gobernante criollo escribe en la introducción de sus Ordenanzas de 1603: “Por cuanto en esta ciudad de La Assunción, cabeza de gobernación, y en la demás de esta Provincia, hay y ha habido gran desorden y descuido en los encomenderos en lo que toca a la doctrina y buena enseñanza y conservación de los naturales a ellos encomendados... a cuya causa, la mayor parte de Los indios... se han muerto, consumido y acabado... y que de hoy en adelante haya orden en todo, y con más facilidad y menos trabajo sean enseñados en las casas de nuestra santa fe católica, con acuerdo y consejo de personas cristianas y doctas, hago, ordeno las ordenanzas [...].

In 31 articles written in Spanish and Guarani, Hernandarias de Saavedra precisely defined the intertwining of education and the Christian religion. Whose synthesis expresses the European worldview and demarcates the contradictions inherent in the domination of indigenous peoples.The governor presents in the ordinances the Spanish state's policy of “protection” and the attempt to culturally “elevate” the natives, mestizos, criollos (like Saavedra himself) by creating first-rate schools, craft instruction and crafts in various villages. According to the ordinances of 1603, men under the age of 15 and women under the age of 13, and those who had already turned 60, were released from personal work (encomienda). Another procedure was the obligation imposed on encomenderos to build churches in the places of groupings of the Indians (los pueblos) so that they could receive the Christian doctrine given by the priests every day. Since Saturday would be the day dedicated to rest and Sunday the practice of worship. From these considerations, the intertwining of the educational process with religion is evident. As a synthesis of a dominant worldview in this historical period, born in the West and gains this particular configuration in the Province of Paraguay. Ordinances demonstrate the Eurocentric worldview grounded in scholasticism. In this sense, the "first letters" and "Christian doctrine" are synonymous.

When the Audience of Charcas sent the visitor of Francisco de Alfaro in 1611, to the Province of Paraguay, aiming to verify the atrocities committed in the process of indigenous enslavement, before the numerous allegations of encomenderos abuse. In opposition to the actions of encomenderos, Alfaro in his Ordinances "abolished" the personal work of indigenous people and supported some educational initiatives of Hernandarias de Saavedra. For it was Hernandarias who requested the opening of a seminary and a college that would be in charge of the Society of Jesus. Due to the intertwining of “education” and “catholic doctrine” the Religious Orders were responsible for Paraguay's first “education”. The religious mentored and carried out the educational / religious process.

3. The institution of the social codes of the western world

Since the foundation of Asuncion, religious have worked together with lay conquerors to establish the social codes of the western world, linked in this historical context to the genesis of capitalist institutions. We must therefore understand the catechesis itself and the other acculturation processes of dressing the indigenous, teach them how to make Western musical instruments, or even the teaching of Gregorian chant as an indelible mark of this course.

The founding of “reductions” and “pueblos”, catechization, education, family organization (according to the principles of Catholicism) constituted the field of action of the religious orders such as: mercedaries, jeronimos, dominicans, franciscans and Jesuits.

The actions of the religious orders were amalgamated with the project of colonial conquest; which was the singular expression of the primitive accumulation of capital. The educational contribution gained a particular configuration in the Province of Paraguay, intertwined by the universalizing character, which has its procedure in the praxis of Religious Orders.

The Religious Orders had the role of “shaping” and “civilizing” the social relations established with the indigenous people in this new locus. In this antagonistic relationship, religious orders would mediate the new relations between the various groups and at the same time incorporate the values of the society of the conquerors. For example, in the family organization instituted monogamous marriage, in relation to housing established a new architectural model, in relation to clothing established the use of western clothing, in relation to work the indigenous people began to produce goods with exchange value, the conquerors imposed a new religion and instituted the aesthetics of western society in the tropics. The same process took place in relation to the Creoles and Mestizos was through these institutions: church, schools, free chairs and seminars that formed the first priests, governors (Hernandarias) "children of the earth". Under the aegis of the dominant ideas. It is in this historical context that the Society of Jesus implemented its action in colonial Paraguay and in the reductions this process takes on a particular shape.

Hernandarias requested the opening of a College and a seminar that would be in charge of the Jesuits. Due to this intertwining between “education and Catholicism” the role played by religious orders occupied a central space in the incipient colonization of the imaginary, as highlighted by ^{Benitez (1981}, p. 23):

En 1604 fue creada la provincia Jesuítica del Paraguay y desde entonces creció la afluencia de los misioneros de la Orden en la Provincial de Paraguay. Referida la trayectoria del Colegio Jesuítico de la Asunción en otro lugar, cabe una reseña de otros aspectos de labor cultural de la Compañía. Antes que nada, debe mencionarse su labor fundacional: los 30 pueblos situados entre la banda izquierda del Tabicuary, ambos márgenes de Paraná y ambas márgenes del Uruguay.

In this sense, according to ^{Benitez (1981}) the “pueblos” and the reductions also appear as an educational / religious project and the “pueblos” that were under Paraguayan jurisdiction were as follows: San Ignacio, Santa Rosa, Santa Maria, Santiago , San Cosme, Itapúa, Jesus and Trinidad. There were also Jesuit reductions: San Joaquim, San Stanislao, Bethlehem, the latter was a reduction of Mbyá Indians. The process of debasement of reductions and pueblos also produced a process of segregation with the creation of "pueblos" of Indians and white towns. However, within these relations were contained the germs of contradiction, because with the institution of reductions transcended these relations to other planes: cultural, economic, religious. In this process there were innovative achievements and the incorporation of unknown materials that had not been used by the indigenous until then. For example, stone for sculptures and construction, tile, tile, adobe, cattle leather, carved wood, doors and windows. In the churches magnificent works of wood carvings, fronts, columns, capitols, portraits, images of saints, furniture and many exquisitely made paintings began to be produced. These works were carried out by the properly trained indigenous labor force. In this respect the Guarani was from the outset very sensitive and accessible to all kinds of arts, were remarkably gifted for sculpture, painting and music as revealed by ^{Lugon (1977}), Seep (1980), ^{Haubert (1990}) and ^{Aréco ( 2008}).

^{Lugon (1977}) unveils the educational process by stating that the first music master in the reductions was a French Jesuit, Father Luís Beguer, who taught Guarani instrumental and vocal music. Father Beguer, who was also a painter and sculptor, was born in Abbeville in 1590, was admitted to the Company in 1614 and arrived in Paraguay in 1616, where he spent his entire life as a teacher of music, painting and sculpture. After Luis Beguer, it was Father Jean Baes, of Belgian origin, who had previously been a renowned master in the court of Archduke Alberto, and later with Infanta Isabel and also as a chapel-master in the Court of Carlos V. Jean Baes taught the guaranis the most developed musical notations of the time. Father Baes was the Guarani master in instrumental and vocal music, he also spent much of his life as a teacher and died in 1623 in Loreto reduction. Father Sepp who arrived in Paraguay in 1691 is also presented as a virtuous teacher in all musical genres and composer, as ^{Furlong (1968}, p.31) explains: “Antônio Sepp, tan habilidoso en la musica, en la pintura, en la escultura y en la arquitectura que era el assombro de sus contemporâneos”.

The priest ^{Sepp founded reductions, built churches, according to Hoffmann (1980}, p. 34) "[…] one of these built churches was not owed in beauty to any other in Bavaria, except the Munich church." To guard against assaults and attacks by Girl Scouts, and other indigenous groups, she surrounded the entire village with a wall and moat. In place of mud and straw huts he built stone houses. Sepp was, according to Hoffmann (1980), a fruitful introducer of Western culture into the Paraguayan Jesuit reductions by inserting the natives in various trades, into the economy, and making agriculture flourish in the reductions under his direction. Sepp died in 1733 at the age of 78, having worked 45 years in missionary reductions. Hoffmann explains that for the Brazilian and Latin American economic history, Sepp still has special importance for being the first percussor of the Brazilian and Latin American steel industry. Hoffmann (1980, p. 38) clarifies:

Reading the description of the furnace built by Priest Sepp, and the methods he used to melt the ore, is a complete account of a Rennfeuer (fluid fire or refining fire) as the Roosters had invented and had used at the time of Caesar (and, of course, already many centuries before) and, as then, they started using the Germans. [...]. Of greater and special importance is the fact that Father Sepp had been manufacturing steel by a certain process for that time and had already made a distinction between iron and steel at that time, long before this classification was usual in the world, as he points out Priest Teschauer.

The reductive space, occupied by priests and indigenous people, allowed the institution of the values of Western culture in synthesis with the Guarani culture, allowing the access of the "reduced Guarani" to European technique through schools of crafts, singing and music, as explained. ^{Lugon (1977}, p. 144):

Since the time of Priest Baes, in each reduction a school of choral singing, music and dance has been created. Says Charlevoix: Then they learn to play all kinds of instruments that are allowed to be used in the churches [...]. They had very little work to learn to touch them as true teachers. They have learned to sing the most difficult melodies by notes, and we are almost tempted to believe that they sing by instincts like birds⁴.

^{Lugon (1977}) clarifies that “instinct” was developed daily in classes lasting several hours. Pipario (cited Pastels, 1912, p. 543) wrote to Father Provincial of Milan: "[...] that many Indians already knew very well how to compose songs, which could rival the most famous musicians in Europe⁵."

In most reductions, the chapel masters were a Guarani and not a Jesuit. Lacouture (1991, p. 455) describes that “[…] a great musician of this era, Domenico Zipoli, also a Jesuit and rival of Vivaldi, contributed to the process of establishing values of Western culture through music education, composing scores for Guarani with various cantatas. " Lacouture (1991) points out that Indians were fascinated by the sung crafts where their voices worked wonders, and various missionaries owe their prestige to their talent as flutists or violinists, such as priests Vaisseau and Berger.

^{Sepp (1980}) clarifies that in this process a “national” School of Music was established for which the most outstanding students from each reduction were selected. Seep (1980, p. 247): These Paraguayan Indians are, by nature, as if fit for music, so that they learn to play with surprising ease and dexterity all sorts of instruments, and this in a very short time. As far as the master is concerned, they almost dismiss him at all.

^{Muratori (1983}, p. 96) reveals that “[...] in the early days the smallest of the reductions had four skilled organists and musicians who stand out for their excellence as lute, flute, pickle, trumpet, bassoon.” According to Muratori (1983), many Europeans who listened to the music of the Indians (played by the Indians) said they were not inferior to those of the cathedrals of Spain. The repertoire included, in addition to Padre Baes' choral singing and polyphony, ballet and marching music, motto to various voices. The violinists also stood out, in particular, playing the most difficult European compositions with great virtuosity.

^{Muratori (1983}) emphasizes that when two French priests came to visit the reductions in 1628, whose names were: Hérnoad de Tuol and Noel Bethold, the Indians presented in honor to the visitors, dances with a two-voice song, “to the French taste” . This process of interethnic friction and Guarani's identification with music and his aptitude for musical instruments appear in the view of the chroniclers of the Society of Jesus and the authors who defend the position of the Jesuits as a “modeler” and “civilizator”. ”And that the cultural manifestations opened the paths to the“ civilizing ”role of European culture.

In this sense Sylvio Back⁶ (apud Lacouture, 1991, p.460) disputes this position, thus summarizing that process:

The reduction of seventeenth-century - or today - Amerindians to a foreign culture that replaced rational thinking with mythical thinking, and the order of the state to libertarian relations, can only be considered progress on the basis of a purely arbitrary assessment of civilizations.

^{Meliá (1991}) corroborates Sylvio Back view by stating that the pre-Columbian Guarani had no temples or idol images, so they could not offer manifestations of fine arts in the early days to conquerors and missionaries especially sensitive to Baroque art. He had a privileged expression in his churches. Also, the natives were always impressed by their eloquence in speaking, they were the "masters of the word". Meliá (1991, p. 84) corroborates: “Toda la lengua guarani, reconecian admirados los missioneros jesuítas, era una arte”.

^{Meliá (1991}) reveals, therefore, that this word Guarani during the colonial process was “reduced” in many ways, especially by the attempt to replace the westernized art of Gregorian chant, or the introduction of musical instruments such as guitar, violin, clarinet , organs, etc., but, as we stated earlier when instituting the reductions in order to segregate the indigenous population, this was instituted from the principle of contradiction. The word Guarani was never completely silenced and was the most used instrument by the Guarani resistance against the invader, in the sense of perpetuating traces of its traditional culture.

^{Meliá (1991}, p. 83) clarifies: “Belleza, fantasía y libertad, los guaranís los han expresado, sin embargo, en otro arte, que no se ve y no se toca. Lo mejor del arte Guaraní no se hace, se dice; no se ve, se escucha. La primera y fundamental arte del guaraní es la palabra”.

The aspect of interethnic friction manifests itself in multiple facets, in a mosaic of determinations expressed in Western aesthetics that emerges in reductions in the sign of wood and stone statues, in the frescoes and paintings that have often replaced and imitated ancient Greek, mimeses of the Renaissance. ^{Lugon (1977}, p. 148) states that Avé-Lallemont observed "[...] in a large room of the College of St. Lawrence, in ruins thirty-three statues of different sizes gathered by the Indians and carefully preserved."

In the process of colonization, sculpture was one of the most widely used aesthetic expressions, as Moussy (1852) points out. wood. Moussy (1952) also noted the artistic care that the Guarani people devoted to the sculptural work of the arcades and marble galleries along certain streets. Moussy describes the exterior appearance of churches that were built of red, white and yellow, Renaissance-style stones, and most often with three or five aisles and a lacy stone steeple.

^{Lugon (1977}) clarifies that the churches built by the Guarani were spacious and imposing, these buildings provoked a rivalry between the reductions in aesthetic aspects and also in its sumptuousness, this competitiveness was stimulated by the Jesuits.

^{Lugon (1977}) reveals that at this point there was the rebuilding of entire churches to the same "level" as others, depriving the inhabitants of what they needed to achieve. In summary with these accounts we can highlight the role played by the Jesuits in establishing the values of European culture with the Guarani.

It should be emphasized that, in the whole of this analysis, the educational process appears in a broader sense and occurred in all sectors of the daily life of reduction. In this sense, the school institution has the conceptual definition of ^{Alves (2001}) who refuses to see the school institution as something perennial, whose specifically pedagogical function would identify with its sole raison d'être.

^{Lugon (1977}) emphasizes that these paintings were separated by garlands and wreath compartments made from ever-fresh, flower-speckled leaves, and that these churches would not fall behind the most beautiful in Spain and Peru, both for the beauty of the structure and for the richness and good taste of silver and ornaments of all kinds⁷.

On the process of interethnic friction, Western aesthetics has imposed itself as an expression of the "beautiful", the "rich", the "sumptuous". Florentin de ^{Bourges (1755}) corroborates the data of ^{Charlevoix (1747}), describing that the paintings were made by the Indians themselves and the sacristies were well-assorted of silver and cult ornaments with expressions and values of European culture.

^{Lugon (1977}) confirms that the concept of beauty was measured by the degree of wealth from the value attributed by Western culture that could be exposed. Therefore, some ornament to be considered beautiful had to be something valuable in the monetary sense. In this sense, the concept of “beautiful” was linked to the “rich” and the concept of “ugly” to the economically poor. Lugon (1977) exemplifies this device by referring to the altar of St. Miguel, who was so magnificently carved, that they budgeted him at the time, at thirty thousand réis of silver, without the gold of the carving.

The pedagogy of absorption, therefore, took place in all dimensions, slowly and gradually establishing the worldview of European society. This process occurred in the Paraguayan singularity and gained in the Jesuit reductions a particular conformation. The procedure of interethnic friction took place in all fields: economic, political, social, aesthetic, etc., but in the reductive space these values emerge from their genesis under the aegis of contradiction, because the sumptuousness of the churches, consequently, the its material and aesthetic expression contrasted with indigenous housing. ^{Haubert (1990}, p. 246) describes:

Building materials vary by season and place. For the ceiling, the tile begins to replace the straw around 1700. The walls are made of straw-crushed clay, adobe, stone carved up to eighty centimeters from the ground, then sun-dried or entirely clay brick. of carved stone. At the moment of the expulsion of the missionaries, all kinds of buildings are still.

As we have seen, the pedagogical and educational process in reductions is much broader, beyond school education. It was in fact the establishment of cultural standards, as the pre-Columbian Guarani lived in large "hollows" with several families. Europeans impose a profound change by instituting the “house” for only the monogamous family. And in addition to imposing a "new" way of life, it still classifies them as "poor", "dirty" as an aesthetic value of Western culture that contrasts with "mansions", "castles" in the sense of aesthetic hierarchy, as a demonstration of domination. . ^{Haubert (1990}, p. 246) exposes this contradiction:

On the other hand, there is no diversity in housing, which is reduced everywhere in a single square room about five to six meters sideways, regardless of family size. A cowhide sometimes acts as a door. There are no windows or chimney; fire is burned in a corner. The floor is not coated. The furniture is well reduced similar to those of the ancestors; some jaguar nets or skins and oxhides lying on the floor, the pillow, a stone or a piece of wood [...]. In the same room live and sleep domestic animals, dogs and chickens [...].

^{Haubert (1990}) reveals that the priest general recommended in 1696 that priests regularly visit the dwellings of the natives, and that they should by no means allow several families to live under one roof, as was common before the conquest of Europeans. . Likewise, it also occurred in relation to the garments, whose men's attire consisted of trousers, a vest, and the fringes on the edges, which in Guarani are called aobaci. The natives believed if they could win or buy a shirt, that with this costume would be "decently" dressed. The clothes were cotton except for the wool poncho for the cold days. The hair of the Christian Guarani was cut like that of the novices. Women only let their hair down when going to church, which was considered a sign of reverence. In normal times they tied their hair with cotton lace. (^{HAUBERT, 1990}), (^{ARÉCO 2008}).

At home and in the field work, Guarani women wore sleeveless talar dresses. For the cult they usually wore over the dress a tunic of talar, which was called tupai. In Christian aesthetic expression the Guarani woman dressed in this way was a "living portrait" of Our Lady of Loreto. Guarani Christian women, at that time, no longer used body paint on their face or lips. (^{HAUBERT, 1990}), (^{ARÉCO 2008}).

^{Haubert (1990}, p. 248) reveals that “[...] the Guarani woman's use of necklaces and earrings was permitted, these were made of full color glass and the earrings were generally copper and could reach up to three fingers in diameter ”. Thus, as the housing question had been instituted by the Jesuits, women's clothing proclaimed the "aesthetic" and at the same time "moral" meaning of Christianity. Haubert (1990, p. 250) clarifies:

It may seem paradoxical that the Jesuits on the one hand urged Indians to maximize their production and on the other hand so draconianly restricted consumption. They would like the neophytes to show more interest in securing their livelihood and the decency of their lodgings and clothing, but they could not allow that interest to turn into a desire "to adorn the despicable body or to appear more than they are."

This example is enlightening because it discloses a class position, evidently of the dominant one, based on Christian "morality". The establishment of the codes of European society encourages the increase of production, because accumulating was necessary, restricts the consumption of indigenous people to serve this purpose. Aesthetics emerges as a social distinction and imposed as a moral value. Synthesis of the intertwining of “education” and “religious dogma” that insurances with a distinctive feature of an embryonic class that yearned to accumulate wealth under the aegis of a “moralism” demoralized by the plunder, theft, slavery, founding marks of a rebirth that emerges in death and genocide. Time of the lights, lit by the fires of the Inquisition, reduced free thought, under the aegis of class struggle in its capitalist genesis. In this sense ^{Haubert (1990}, p. 250) corroborates:

Among them, however, are people of a higher rank, and the Jesuits allow them to wear richer clothes; they even give them at the expense of Tupambaé, if they can't afford it. Moreover, when the Jesuits tell the Guarani to "get rich," they add, according to Gospel precepts, "but remain poor in spirit."

Paradoxically, the Society of Jesus is the materialized expression of enrichment, for it was undoubtedly the richest religious order in all of Colonial America, the rhetoric of “remaining poor in spirit” and the ideological expression of its action. Therefore, in reductive materiality the indigenous could acquire wealth, provided they are “poor in spirit” so that they passively accept dominion. Sarup (1980, p. 152) states that: "Alienation and inequality are rooted not in human nature, not in technology, not in the educational system, but in the structure of the capitalist economy." In this definition the Jesuit reductions are the expression of the genesis of capitalism (in its primitive accumulation phase) that stimulated economic production and at the same time legitimized economic inequality by providing a meritocratic mechanism for destining individuals to unequal economic positions.

Conclusion

The considerations we have outlined throughout the article lead us to point out some elements that deserve to be highlighted in this final exposition. We do not suggest expressing a summary analysis, as these reflections were too corroborated throughout the work. The conclusions confirmed throughout the text will not be presented in a linear, hierarchical and positive manner, thus not summarizing the considerations obtained, in degree of importance in relation to the totality of the exposed content.

The first aspect woven into the overall presentation of the paper is the understanding of the social and historical context in which the first schools in Colonial Paraguay were established. This process was executed by the Society of Jesus.

The company of Jesus was founded in 1539, in the genesis of the expansion of the capitalist mode of production. At that time, the two great maritime powers were Portugal and Spain disputing the hegemony of the economic process. The alliance of religious orders with the European monarchies were important instruments in the consolidation of European rule in the colonies of the new world. This link was imperative to reinforce Eurocentric values. The first Jesuits who arrived in Paraguay in 1588 came from Brazil. Since their arrival in Paraguayan territory, the religious worked together with the lay conquerors to establish the social codes of the western world linked, in that historical context, to the genesis of the institutions capitalists. We must therefore understand the catechesis itself and the other acculturation processes of dressing the indigenous, teach them how to make Western musical instruments, or even the teaching of Gregorian chant as an indelible mark of this course. In Paraguay the Spanish crown granted the Jesuits the right to found settlements and exploit the indigenous labor force they could catechize. The Jesuit missions in America, also called reductions, were indigenous settlements organized and administered by Jesuit priests in the New World, as part of their “civilizing” and “evangelizing” work.

In the course of the research, we concluded that Paraguay's Jesuit reductions did not produce only “reduced Indians”. It also produced a new social spatiality creating a whole system of material and immaterial production, which eventually generated new needs. Aiming to Christianize the “reduced Indian” at any price, the Jesuits sought to replace the Guarani's ancestral beliefs.

In the early years, sermons and teachings were delivered with the help of interpreters, plus the imperative to master the linguistic codes of the Indians to make catechesis more efficient. This need on the part of the Jesuits led to the production of grammars in the Guarani language. In producing grammar came the need to teach Indians how to read this grammar. Hence the genesis of the school process. In this sense the emergence of publishing and printing this grammar was created in the social space of reduction.

Consequently, by mastering the native language, priests came to the children, causing them to bring new beliefs and behaviors to their families. This process was extremely dynamic and contradictory because, in learning the Guarani language, the European Jesuit developed the grammar of the language, and by preventing the teaching of the Spanish language in the schools of reductions, the original language was preserved. By building temples, it enabled the development of Guarani-missionary architecture, which contradicted itself in contradistinction to the simplicity and ruggedness of indigenous dwellings. In producing the beautiful images of the "Catholic saints," these contradicted the images of native animals in the region. Thus, the images of “saints” merged with the “mythical” images of the original Guarani culture, in a dynamic process of producing a new culture, synthesized by the elements of Western culture and Guarani culture.

In producing new needs, the Jesuits needed to institute abstract concepts for understanding Christianity. In this sense, unsystematic education and catechesis were no longer enough. Thus, the need for school education to establish the social codes of the dominant society emerged.

Teaching mathematics to quantify production and identify the value of coins is an illustrative example of this process. Jesuit-catechized children, later initiated in the first letters, became the new indigenous leaders replacing the old hereditary leaders. The old instituted leaders, by the forms of "heredity" and "shamanic", were replaced by "Christian chiefs". In this process the Jesuits constituted a new “elite” of chieftains who were no longer hegemonically linked to the original culture, this process ended up destroying old Guarani institutions by the capacity that these “new leaders” had to incorporate into the new social codes that were being instituted. . In this sense, the Jesuits were important instruments in the creation and consolidation of colonial relations in the new world. Working on the different forms of relationships that were instituted in Jesuit enterprises can elucidate the heritage of this Catholic religious order in the spread of Western culture, indispensable for the reproduction of social relations of the mode of production in modern times. This chain was established in commercial mercantilism, the exploitation of agriculture, the raising of cattle, the effective participation in the purchase and sale of slaves and the promulgation of Christian culture to the peoples of Latin America. Finally, the genesis of Paraguayan education was amalgamated with this process.