Dietz, Gunther y Mateos, Laura Selene (2024). Interculturalidad crítica en la educación superior: hacia un análisis interseccional comparativo de experiencias estudiantiles de jóvenes. Ichan Tecolotl, 35(382), 1-12.
Over the past twenty years, Mexican higher education has been influenced by several factors, such as students’ movements fighting for their right to education and especially for free education, decentralized and autonomous policies, quality assurance and accreditation programs, internalization of education through the development of network and alliances, expansion of educational offering, curricular reforms, the use of technology to increase coverage, financial challenges, and the effects of the pandemic on educational attainment, among others. Additionally, new actors, first generation students, are increasingly accessing to higher education, for instance, indigenous, Afro-descendant, and/or disabled youngsters. These changes are the result of inclusive programs and affirmative action policies, that gradually have acknowledged equal access for these students, regardless of their sociocultural backgrounds or abilities
By recognizing the presence of diversity on their campuses, Mexican universities have moved to the institutionalization and mainstreaming inclusion, gender, and interculturality into their fundamental functions. In this paper, our objective is to reflect on the challenges and tensions that come with implementing a critical intercultural approach in higher education, based on the findings on the international project “Indigeneity and Pathways through Higher Education in Mexico”. Finally, interculturality is not limited to superficial changes, but rather it entails the transformation of higher education institutions according to students’ diversity.
Franco, Jésica (2024). Challenges of academic writing among young indigenous researchers. Magis, Revista Internacional de Investigación en Educación, (17), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.m17.deaj
The discourses and current educational policies of inclusion in Latin America continue to align with the hegemonic vision that has predominated in linguistic studies, which, from a cognitive perspective, perceive reading and writing as neutral and decontextualized techniques or processes. In this sense, the emergence of critical inquiries highlights the necessity to restructure and decolonize the theoretical and methodological frameworks that have prevailed in investigations of academic literacies. Consequently, this research aims to understand the challenges faced by young researchers from indigenous communities in their experiences of appropriating academic writing, from a perspective that articulates critical studies of academic literacies with intercultural studies. In-depth interviews were conducted with three young indigenous Mexican researchers working in the field of education. The narratives were analyzed considering their familial, academic, and research trajectories in relation to their experiences of academic writing. The results emphasize that their cultural identity influences the construction of their academic identity, enabling them to reflect on and understand writing within the dynamics of power and the ethical political commitments inherent to their work in academic settings.
Hernández, Roberto y Mateos, Laura Selene (2024). Towards the decolonization of teacher education at the Escuela Normal Bilingüe Intercultural de Oaxaca. Punto CU Norte, 9(19), 35-59.
This paper analyzes the educational experiences of students and graduates from the Bilingual and Intercultural Teacher Training School of Oaxaca (ENBIO). This institution has an educational model which merges intercultural approach with everyday practices and is committed to training indigenous professionals to transform pedagogy. The research consisted of a collaborative ethnographic study, and data was collected through semi-structured interviews and interdisciplinary workshops. Participant observation and field journaling were used as complementary techniques. The results showed that ENBIO, as a teacher training institution for indigenous education, enables students and graduates to re-assess their cultural references, reconfigure their identities, and reconcile themselves with their cultures of origin, both socioculturally and politically. Educational experiences, curriculum, classroom and extracurricular practices, community work, among others, make the institution leave a deep community mark on young people and dismantle the idea that a literate individual has a “better quality of life” and that being a professional means “being someone in life”. In this way, ENBIO surpasses traditional hegemonic and exclusionary educational practices and gives rise to an emerging intercultural process, respectful to diversity. Finally, ENBIO advocates for epistemic justice and collaborative creation of knowledge.
Pérez-Castro, Judith (2024). Between snakes and ladders: Trajectories of a group of Indigenous university students. Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas, 32(19), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.32.8210
Indigenous students represent 1% of the enrollment in Mexican higher education. The exclusion they have been subjected to is a structural problem that encompasses internal factors to the education system, such as regulatory and organizational norms, pedagogical and attitudinal barriers, as well as external factors, for instance, family economic situation, low expectations for indigenous students, and cultural differences. In this paper, we analyzed the barriers and enablers faced by Indigenous university students. The research was based on collaborative ethnography, and, for the empirical work, we conducted in-depth interviews in a sample of Indigenous students from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The students’ discourses highlight three kinds of barriers: economic, academic, and attitudinal. All these barriers have different consequences, on both student learning and educational achievement as well as students’ chances of being included in the university. However, at the same time, students point out the existence of support at the institutional level and from relatives, classmates, and teachers. We conclude that the situation experienced by indigenous students is complex, due to several obstacles they have to overcome. For that reason, it is important to enhance institutional actions in order to identify indigenous student needs and improve their educational opportunities.
Pérez-Castro, Judith, Santana, Yasmani and Donnelly, Michael (2025). Viejas y nuevas formas de discriminación hacia los estudiantes indígenas en universidades convencionales. Perfiles educativos, 47 (publicación continua), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.22201/iisue.24486167e.2025.47.61777
Despite the expansion of the higher education system, racism towards those groups or social categories that do not conform to the standards of the Euro-Western paradigm continues to be prevalent in institutions. One of these groups is indigenous peoples, who have historically faced different forms of derogatory treatment, both overt and veiled. In this paper we analyze the discrimination practices faced by a group of Indigenous students from two universities in Mexico City. The inquiry consisted of a collaborative ethnography, for which we conducted in-depth interviews with a selection of 16 students from different major programs. We found that young people experience various forms of discrimination, both institutional and cultural. Regarding the first one, students identified three discriminatory practices: the disregard for traditional knowledge, invisibility of indigenous students as members of the institutional community, and folklorization of their customs and values. Regarding the second one, indigenous youngsters highlighted rejection practices based on their clothing, place of origin, language, and economic status. We concluded that these forms of discrimination refer to systems of inequality rooted in the social structure, however, educational institutions can contribute to changing them if they look critically at the knowledge they transmit, the values and practices they hold, as well as the processes that exclude people who have been labeled as “different”.
