Pukllay pampa: Andean-inspired time-spaces for learning and unlearning

Abstract

This article stems from a panel presentation at the 2022 Curriculum and Pedagogy Conference in State College, PA. Drawing on our shared experiences as curators of the Kawsay Ukhunchay Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Art and Cultural Artifacts Research Collection at The Ohio State University, in this article we explore decolonial pedagogies and alternative methods informed by Andean and Amazonian Indigenous epistemologies. The pedagogical approaches emergent in the alternative learning/unlearning space of the collection illustrate ways by which engaging with Indigenous perspectives and practices fosters critical questioning of Western categories and organizing principles and serves as a basis for cultivating openness to alternative worldviews and meaning making. We pair this conceptual stance with applicable, transferrable skill sets for “thinking otherwise” as pathways for day-to-day practices, applied alternative pedagogies, and cross-curricular methods amplification that begin to pave the way for decolonial approaches.