Pachamama—La Universidad del ‘Buen Vivir’: A First Nations …
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An essential approach of Latin American Higher Education sustainability strategies is to request inclusion, the empowerment of indigenous people and cultural as
well as political intercultural justice. Mato (2011) in his article “Indigenous universities in Latin America: Successes, problems and challenges” shows, how the
integration of knowledge, languages, modalities of learning and the cosmogony of
indigenous people contributes to the system of Higher Education through cultural
diversity and opening a dialogue of ethical interculturality.
In regards to cultural diversity and interculturality in Higher Education in Latin
America, UNESCO together with the International Institute for Higher Education in
Latin America and the Caribe IESALC (Instituto Internacional de la UNESCO para
la Educación Superior en América Latina y el Caribe) declared in 2008 to support
initiatives of Higher Education in, with, and for indigenous people. The living power
of spirituality of indigenous people is meant to broaden the horizon of educational
processes and to unfold new possibilities in order to create a harmonic balance
between human beings within a country and a territory (UNESCO 2008: 39).
Within the last years, several indigenous universities have arisen. In 2005, the
developmental fund of indigenous people of Latin America and the Caribbean
founded a first indigenous intercultural university. The UII (Universidad Indigena
Intercultural) acted as a network union of and for indigenous universities. Until
today, UII involves in total 26 educational centers (Centros Academicos Asociados).
Within this plural institutional setting we find conventional public, private, as well
as intercultural and indigenous universities, study centers as well as research institutions, which are experienced in the development of educational programs for and
with indigenous people. Represented in the network are the following 12 countries:
Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala,
Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela (Cunningham and Nucinkis 2010).
Taking a closer look into the Higher Education programs and courses developed,
we can find programs starting with a three month program up to a two years degree.
The thematic fields covered relate to:
• Multilingual intercultural education
• Intercultural health
• Indigenous rights
• Governance, indigenous people, human rights and international cooperation
• Development in community strengthening identity for ‘Buen Vivir’
• Linguistic and cultural empowerment
• Governance and public administration from an indigenous perspective
• Empowerment of indigenous women in order to take leadership in their communities.
According to the above mentioned, best practice report on indigenous knowledge and Intercultural Indigenous Universities (“Buenas Prácticas Sabidurías y
conocimientos indígenas en la Universidad Indígena Intercultural - La Cátedra Indígena Itinerante”), the German National Institute for International Cooperation (GIZ)
has accepted the rights and the potential of indigenous people to supports their participation at different levels (Cunningham and Nucinkis 2010). At an international
853
An essential approach of Latin American Higher Education sustainability strategies is to request inclusion, the empowerment of indigenous people and cultural as
well as political intercultural justice. Mato (2011) in his article “Indigenous universities in Latin America: Successes, problems and challenges” shows, how the
integration of knowledge, languages, modalities of learning and the cosmogony of
indigenous people contributes to the system of Higher Education through cultural
diversity and opening a dialogue of ethical interculturality.
In regards to cultural diversity and interculturality in Higher Education in Latin
America, UNESCO together with the International Institute for Higher Education in
Latin America and the Caribe IESALC (Instituto Internacional de la UNESCO para
la Educación Superior en América Latina y el Caribe) declared in 2008 to support
initiatives of Higher Education in, with, and for indigenous people. The living power
of spirituality of indigenous people is meant to broaden the horizon of educational
processes and to unfold new possibilities in order to create a harmonic balance
between human beings within a country and a territory (UNESCO 2008: 39).
Within the last years, several indigenous universities have arisen. In 2005, the
developmental fund of indigenous people of Latin America and the Caribbean
founded a first indigenous intercultural university. The UII (Universidad Indigena
Intercultural) acted as a network union of and for indigenous universities. Until
today, UII involves in total 26 educational centers (Centros Academicos Asociados).
Within this plural institutional setting we find conventional public, private, as well
as intercultural and indigenous universities, study centers as well as research institutions, which are experienced in the development of educational programs for and
with indigenous people. Represented in the network are the following 12 countries:
Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala,
Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela (Cunningham and Nucinkis 2010).
Taking a closer look into the Higher Education programs and courses developed,
we can find programs starting with a three month program up to a two years degree.
The thematic fields covered relate to:
• Multilingual intercultural education
• Intercultural health
• Indigenous rights
• Governance, indigenous people, human rights and international cooperation
• Development in community strengthening identity for ‘Buen Vivir’
• Linguistic and cultural empowerment
• Governance and public administration from an indigenous perspective
• Empowerment of indigenous women in order to take leadership in their communities.
According to the above mentioned, best practice report on indigenous knowledge and Intercultural Indigenous Universities (“Buenas Prácticas Sabidurías y
conocimientos indígenas en la Universidad Indígena Intercultural - La Cátedra Indígena Itinerante”), the German National Institute for International Cooperation (GIZ)
has accepted the rights and the potential of indigenous people to supports their participation at different levels (Cunningham and Nucinkis 2010). At an international