Decolonizing indigenous education

An indigenous pluriversity within a university in Cauca, Colombia

Bibliographic Data

ID3977827
AuthorsNicholas L Padilla (0000-0002-2212-275X, Western Michigan University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume22
Issue4
Pages523-544
Publication date2021-05-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2019.1601244
OpenAlexW2926098532
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited37

Indigenous movements in southwestern Colombia have shifted their focus from their original goals of asserting indigenous identities, reclaiming land, and uniting the country's diverse indigenous communities. The Autonomous Indigenous Intercultural University (UAIIN) reasserts indigenous identities by appropriating a western educational model but returning education to processes of cultural reproduction among peers, by requiring all students to engage in community investigation and popular education within their own communities. In this paper, I argue that the UAIIN strives to be a pluriversity that builds on the diversity of its participants in order to foster thinking-feeling students who engage Mother Earth through deep and spiritual connections. These efforts are contradicted, however, by the UAIIN's administration's desire to meet the Colombian Ministry of Education's requirements for universities and to gain official recognition for its degree programmes. In practice, the UAIIN is a pluriversity within a university. Through its pedagogy, the UAIIN seeks to build indigenous solidarity across cultural difference, connects students to Mother Earth through action-oriented education, and strategically universalizes a pan-indigenous national identity

Christian ministry · Diversity (politics · Feeling · Identity (music · Indigenous · Indigenous Education · Pedagogy · Political science · Sociology · Solidarity · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Indigenous Cultures and History · Indigenous Cultures and Socio-Education · Latin American Cultural Politics · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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