Education, cultures, and sustainable development in Mexico

the contribution of intercultural universities

Abstract

This article is the result of research carried out between 2014 and 2022 on intercultural universities in Mexico set up by the government as a response to indigenous demands following the Zapatista uprising of 1994. These universities are part of a policy of positive discrimination towards indigenous populations, and are helping to revitalize their languages and cultures based on an intercultural educational concept that aims to be reflexive and critical, implying both a decolonization of knowledge and a recognition of its diversity. After outlining the context in which they came into being, and showing how they have helped to democratize access to higher education for rural populations, particularly indigenous peoples, we analyze the organizational methods and pedagogies used to teach Meso-Amerindian languages to different target groups. We reveal how they have sought to develop an approach that fosters both a revitalization of indigenous knowledge and a dialogical relationship between the latter and that of the academic/Western world, notably through the "community relationship" module, while highlighting the latter's limitations. We conclude by showing that, while positive discrimination does exist, some selective streams are moving away from it. Similarly, while a process of cultural and linguistic revitalization has been initiated, it concerns only a fraction of graduates, and remains fragile given that very few remain in indigenous communities.