Ethno-Education (Etnoeducación) in la Guajira, Colombia: Shaping Indigenous Subjectivities Within Modernity, Neoliberal Multiculturalism, and the Indigenous Struggle

Abstract

Ethno-education (etnoeducación) – formal education for ethnic minorities – is one of the key features defining Colombia as a multicultural nation. For the state and mainstream Colombian, it means the materialization of the push for modernity and inclusion, as ‘other,’ of indigenous peoples into a neoliberal multicultural nation. While for indigenous peoples, it is a pivotal mechanism of resistance, based on their struggle to maintain their ethnic identity, seek self-determination, and gain the necessary knowledge to successfully adapt to an intercultural context. As the Wayuu of Siapana, La Guajira, conceptualize it,etnoeducación is the instrument that allows them to ‘salir adelante’ (get ahead) and ‘ser alguien en la vida’ (to become someone in life), that can help them take control over their present and future, while redeeming the failures of the past. Etnoeducación – and thus the subjectivities it fosters – results from the convergence of many different processes and interests. Drawing from my ethnographic research in a Colombian Wayuu Internado (boarding school) and its surrounding community, this paper elucidates how these forces constitute the subjectivities of Wayuu students, shaping their desires, decisions, meanings, and possibilities, while placing contradictions and challenges in the Wayuu struggle for self-determination happening under a context of unequal power relations.