Elizabeth Sumida Huaman

Indigenous Knowledge and Education from the Quechua Community to School: Beyond the Formal/Non-Formal Dichotomy.

In this article, we propose to approach Indigenous education beyond the formal/non-formal dichotomy. We argue that there is a critical need to conscientiously include Indigenous knowledge in education processes from the school to the community; particularly, when formal systems exclude Indigenous cultures and languages. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Quechua schools and communities, our examination of policy and teachers in the formal setting reveals overall contradictions towards practice, where the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge, language, and community participation remains largely symbolic, despite genuine efforts from those who support Indigenous revitalization. Further, an exploration of Wanka Quechua community educational practices focused on local ecology demonstrates that community education exhibits a structure that is culturally inclusive, intergenerational and values-driven, and rigorous and complex.

Transforming education, transforming society: The co-construction of critical peace education and Indigenous education

This article seeks to contribute to the link between critical peace education and Indigenous education from an Indigenous international and comparative education perspective. The article first reviews the marginalization of critical peace education and Indigenous education. By bringing forward areas of common interest between peace education and Indigenous education, the need for specific strategies involving mutual exchange and resulting in co-construction of education using both approaches is emphasized. Although peace education is not widely discussed in Indigenous or American Indian education, this article proposes a conversation between Indigenous community members, scholars, educators and other stakeholders in order to encourage collaboration towards the shared goal of education for the purposes of social transformation

Indigenous-Minded Innovation in Shifting Ecologies

Rooted in diverse cultures and in distinct regions of the world, Indigenous people have for generations created, maintained, and negotiated clear and explicit relationships with their environments. Despite numerous historical disruptions and steady iterations of imperialism that continue through today, Indigenous communities embody communities of struggle/resistance and intense vitality/creativity.

Indigenous Peoples and Academe

In Pedagogy of the Oppressed first published in 1968, Brazilian educator-scholar Paolo Freire discussed what he referred to as the “absolutizing of ignorance,” among other myths invented and perpetuated by oppressors for the purposes of maintaining power over the conquered, the colonized, “the oppressed.” Freire argued that the inhumanity of oppressors and revolutionary humanism, which are—on their surface—contradictory, both made use of science and technology that would either reduce the oppressed to subjects of scientific interest if the former, or promote humanization in the case of the latter (2005, p. 133).

Tuki Ayllpanchik (our beautiful land): Indigenous ecology and farming in the Peruvian highlands

Based on ethnographic research with an Indigenous community in Junín, Peru, and involving over 21 participants, this article explores the link between Indigenous lands, environmental knowledge, cultural practices, and education. Drawing from traditional ecological knowledge and nature-mediated education, Indigenous community spaces as vital learning spaces are highlighted. Through the lens of family and community-scale farming, this article also discusses critical perspectives on Indigenous agricultural traditions, lessons in subsistence farming, food and notions of success for students, and globalisation. Finally, an argument is made for educational development to acknowledge the breadth of Indigenous ecological issues, to prioritize Indigenous lands, languages, and cultural practices, and to support collaborative research that underscores Indigenous epistemologies.

Indigenous innovation: Universalities and peculiarities

The “science-centric” knowledge derived from narrow criteria and vetted by limited number of experts inadvertently excludes wider participation of knowledge forms. The adjective “alternative,” associated with non-western knowledge is often used synonymously with “irrational.” We argue that alternative knowledge systems have a rationale of their own and are intricately woven into cultural, social and ecological fabric of society. Alternative knowledge is as intelligible as modern knowledge and could both complement and enrich public discourse on sciences and their outcomes. We hold that both forms of knowledge are valuable, especially for addressing the complex challenges of the modern world. While proposing a conceptual framing, this paper (a) articulates the legitimacy and efficacy of alternative knowledge systems; (b) highlights the potential overlap between scientific and nonscientific modes of thinking; (c) compares diverse potential modes of engagement between scientific and nonscientific cultures; and (d) addresses the role of normative standards that shape interactions between scientific and nonscientific cultures. While embracing knowledge that heralds from the scientific methods, alternative imagination offers cultural and intellectual openness to ideas and approaches that are not traditionally considered as knowledge. By working collaboratively with stakeholders, both intraand inter-institutionally, alternative imagination constructs complementary perspectives on interactions between science and technology of non-western societies.

“Why Can’t We Admire Our Own?”

In the Mantaro Valley of Peru, Wanka youth are raised participating in family and community-scale farming. When viewed as an Indigenous and rural cultural practice, farming can be seen as reflective of an ecologically-conscious and spiritually-based system of reciprocity. Central to this system is the teaching of values that emphasize interrelationships between human beings, their lands, histories, and foods. At the same time, farming is also viewed in Peruvian dominant society as a peasant activity of the uneducated poor—a stigmatization that distances the rural Indigenous farmer from mainstream notions of progress, development, and modernity. In this chapter, these tensions are highlighted through ethnographic research on the experiences of Indigenous youth who participate in educational opportunities that will influence who they want to be and what their communities will become.