Indigenous and Intercultural Education in Latin America: Assimilation or Transformation of Colonial Relations in Colombia

Abstract

ABSTRACTScholars have questioned whether experiences in indigenous university education in Latin America are institutional arrangements for emphasizing diversity within a neoliberal multiculturalist fashion or if they are innovative pathways to transform colonial relations of power and knowledge systems. One might think that as happened with primary and secondary education, the growth of institutional experiences in indigenous university education in Latin America and the Caribbean simply served the purpose of consolidating a homogenous citizenry in liberal states. This paper offers three different cases on Indigenous education in Colombia to examine this question. The outcomes are significant because regardless of the type of university, the main difference lies in whether indigenous education (universities or programs) were planned and established with and from indigenous peoples and not simply for Indigenous people. The participation of Indigenous organizations was decisive in the scope and objectives of each case analyzed. The data were collected during several periods of field work in 2014 and 2015. The research process involved an extensive literature review, conversations with Indigenous scholars and leaders of two Indigenous experiences on university education, and an analysis of the PAES initiative at the National University of Colombia.