“It´s a utopian dream”: Mexico´s intercultural universities and the challenges of decolonising higher education

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the decolonising potential of Mexico´s Indigenous-serving universities, through a qualitative study of the pioneer of these institutions: the Mexico State Intercultural University (UIEM). Created jointly by the federal and state governments in 2003, the UIEM is one of 16 such universities serving more than 21,000 students, mostly members of Mexico´s Indigenous minority. In this article, I present findings from more than 75 interviews with UIEM graduates, students, teachers, and administrators, focusing on their perceptions of the intercultural curriculum, as well as its relationship to the labour market, an area that has received little attention in the literature. The research seeks to answer the following broad question: To what degree does the intercultural model challenge existing knowledge hierarchies and empower Indigenous students and to what degree does it reproduce the coloniality of power, being and knowledge? While the institutions serve an important function in expanding educational opportunities and revitalising Indigenous languages and cultures, they also face profound difficulties, including political meddling, a lack of institutional autonomy, ‘epistemic frictions’ over the curriculum, institutional racism, scarce resources, and contradictions between the ‘intercultural utopia’ and the realities of the job market.